How I am making $ with Mobile Marketing

First I would like to give a huge Thank You to the Warriors Forum. I have been coming here for years and years and have gained so much useful information. So I finally decided to try and give a little back.

Here is the basic idea of how I am making $ with Mobile Marketing.

1. I offer A in house SMS plan, helping my client to build there own opt in list to send coupons to thru the use of table tents, flyers, QR codes and of coarse incorporating this into there current marketing. They receive 2 keywords and 500 texts to start. (nothing new here I know)

2. I offer them a free mobile website when they sign up on a monthly plan.(month to month with no commitments) It is free as long as we are working together, if they decide to opt out then they can purchase it for 199.00. (Again nothing new)

Although I was able to sign up a few decent clients I found that there was one common objection as well there was one mistake I found myself making.

First the mistake I was making was getting to excited about the tech behind what I was offering. Talking way to much about HOW IT WORKS and not enough about HOW IT WILL BRING IN CUSTOMERS. I have read it many times on this forum and it is worth repeating. THEY DO NOT CARE HOW IT WORKS, JUST SHOW THEM THAT IT WORKS.

The most common objection I faced was getting businesses to commit to a monthly fee when it WILL and DOES take time to build up an in house opt in list. In other words getting them paying a monthly fee in hopes of it working down the road is tough. They need to see the results. I had the following two choices as I seen it.

1. Give them a free month to build up there list which I do not like to do, it requires a lot of work and time on my end, and if the client does not follow thru on there end it can all be time wasted.

2. My second choice was to show them IMMEDIATE RESULTS. But how can you do this. Here's what I did. I created what I call Napa Mobile Deals. Napa is just the town I am in. I created flyers, a small website, word of mouth, offered select businesses a free text coupon for letting me put up a flyer in there biz, I put up a banner on a busy street ( i had a friend that owned a biz on the main st. in town so that helped) basically I did what it took to build up my own opt in list. I put text "Napa" to 12345 to get great deals and discounts from your favorite local businesses on everything. I also decided to donate 20% of all profit to the local food bank. Although I did honestly do that to try and help the community, I have to admit it really helped when talking about the program to prospects. So NOW I have my own opt in list, on top of the services I provide I can also show them immediate results by sending there coupon out upon sign up and paying for there first month.

Sorry for such a long post, just thought it may help someone, if not, my bad ; )

P.S.
I am now looking to take the program to the next town over

P.P.S.
Another mistake i made was not researching the SMS provider I chose to use. I very recently had to switch to a new provider which is ending up to be quite a pain

Awesome, I really like how much work you put into building your own list. I can see how that one coupon blast could help seal the deal. How many subscribers do you have? What SMS Platform were you using and who are you using now?

Awesome, I really like how much work you put into building your own list. I can see how that one coupon blast could help seal the deal. How many subscribers do you have? What SMS Platform were you using and who are you using now?

I currently have about 1500, but its starting to grow pretty fast. I do not want to say what Platform I was using because I know how far one negative comment can go. But after countless hours of research and info overflow lol, i decided to switch to Lime Cellular. They just seemed to be the best overall fit for me.

i decided to switch to Lime Cellular. They just seemed to be the best overall fit for me.

I have a friend that works for one of the largest text companies. He works with some massive companies. Some of his customers prepay for text plans for millions of texts at a time.

Anyways, im sure he can beat their rates and provide a better product. I would throw his name out but he doesn't really work with the new guys, (not you but many people reading this). Send me a private message if you are interested and I can pass his info to you or anyone else thatis doing some volume.

I have a friend that works for one of the largest text companies. He works with some massive companies. Some of his customers prepay for text plans for millions of texts at a time.

Anyways, im sure he can beat their rates and provide a better product. I would throw his name out but he doesn't really work with the new guys, (not you but many people reading this). Send me a private message if you are interested and I can pass his info to you or anyone else thatis doing some volume.

Thank you, it is great to help close. What I like is that it gets them excited about building there own list. Meaning they will put more effort into it which will ensure they get the best possible results.

I've been playing around with my pricing model a bit too. We try to show them some quick results in week 1 or 2 with a coupon campaign or a killer deal so we could get immediate opt ins. Once they see 5,10, 20, 50 people opting in during a short period of time, then most of my customers have no problem paying our monthly fee. They just need to see it working for them.

Thanks, I am still working out some of the bugs but I am getting there. You def have the rite idea, once you can get a client excited about building there list your home. The thing I love about SMS is that you do not have to worry about upselling because there monthly fee will naturally go up as there list grows.

Great job! OK - why not keep it the way you are doing it and build YOUR list and charge local businesses to send out a coupon to YOUR list? Don't take a % like screwpon does - charge a flat rate.

Thanks and yes that is exactly what I am doing. When someone opts in the auto response lets them know they will receive one text coupon a day at 4 pm. That means i can send 30 (depending on how many days in the month) coupons out to the list each month. That is 30 clients per list @ 300 per client = $9000 a month. I am planning to cut the list off at 2500 subscribers. Then i will start filling up the next list.. Rite now I am sending out one free coupon when a client signs up for our local marketing program, but if they want to send to it again they would have to pay. The program is still pretty new so I am still playing with the numbers to find the rite balance between our profit and the customers ROI.

I really like the sound of this building a list and doing it in a groupon kind of way but just charge a flat monthly fee etc, just one problem I can't get get my head around the best way of doing it :confused:

I must admit I haven't had any dealings with groupon type sites so not 100% how they work.... I'm aware they do it by email but how do you manage it? say in your first month you get 1000 people opt-in and you sign up say 10/15 businesses how do you manage it from there? Any tips/ideas would be great!

I really like the sound of this building a list and doing it in a groupon kind of way but just charge a flat monthly fee etc, just one problem I can't get get my head around the best way of doing it :confused:

I must admit I haven't had any dealings with groupon type sites so not 100% how they work.... I'm aware they do it by email but how do you manage it? say in your first month you get 1000 people opt-in and you sign up say 10/15 businesses how do you manage it from there? Any tips/ideas would be great!

Thanks

Dave

Hi Dave, if I had 1000 people opt in and signed up 15 businesses the first month (these are actually very close to my first month numbers) I would send out one coupon per client a month and charge them around 149.00. I would send out a coupon every other day. Once you reached 30 clients your list is maxed out. I would not text to any list more than once a day. Even once a day is pushing it but if they know exactly what time to expect the text and the OFFERS STAY STRONG it shouldn't be a prob.

There are just to many ways of building your list to name. If I had a very low budget I would say flyers and hitting the streets are your best bet, that and signing up everyone you know of coarse. Make sure you only sign up locals.

Great idea on building your own list and prove to clients they can get customers at will.

Do you send out the coupon to everyone on your Napa list? 10% of 2500 is a lot.
I'm thinking if the deal is really good, there will be hundreds of people lining up outside.
Maybe too much for the biz owner to handle and pisses off customer who might get turned down.

Just an idea... keep one list and send offers in batches, offer1 to first 1000 on your list, 2nd offer to the next 1000. This way you can send multiple offers in one day and have more than 30 clients.

Great idea on building your own list and prove to clients they can get customers at will.

Do you send out the coupon to everyone on your Napa list? 10% of 2500 is a lot.
I'm thinking if the deal is really good, there will be hundreds of people lining up outside.
Maybe too much for the biz owner to handle and pisses off customer who might get turned down.

Just an idea... keep one list and send offers in batches, offer1 to first 1000 on your list, 2nd offer to the next 1000. This way you can send multiple offers in one day and have more than 30 clients.

Thanks

Great point, currently my list is at about 1500 but growing steadily. Rite now I am sending out to everyone on the list and have not run into the issue you mentioned however at some point I am sure that I will. My current plans are to cut off the list at 2500 and start creating another list so that I can have more than 30 clients as you mentioned. It is a tough line to draw and the stronger the offer the more likely to face this problem. One way i am keeping this problem from taking place is to make the coupon valid for 15 days min thus spreading out the response flow.

I want to get started with mobile marketing, but I don't know what company I should choose as a white label. What company are you using and do you have any other companies that might be a good start for me?

I want to get started with mobile marketing, but I don't know what company I should choose as a white label. What company are you using and do you have any other companies that might be a good start for me?

Thanks in advance,

Cuba

I did not do enough research in the beginning and signed up with a service that did not address all my needs as things started to progress. I recently changed over to Lime Cellular after tons of research as I found them to be the best fit for me. Currently I am experiencing problems with transferring my list over so I strongly suggest doing your research and choosing the best fit for your business. My second choice would have been avid.

Me too Buzz, something about you can't build up a list like you are and send texts on behalf of other businesses? That really true? Confused!

Exactly, I am thinking he misread what I am doing and deleted it himself. He prob thought I was mailing my coupons to the list my customers are creating which is not at all what I do. The list I create for Napa Mobile Deals is a completely separate list than those I help create for my clients. Napa Mobile Deals is just simply another business that I use under my platform to do SMS Marketing.

I do not see anything wrong with people opting in to receive deals from local businesses and me providing the platform to make it happen. BUT to be safe I will more than likely check into it and post my findings here.

Exactly, I am thinking he misread what I am doing and deleted it himself. He prob thought I was mailing my coupons to the list my customers are creating which is not at all what I do. The list I create for Napa Mobile Deals is a completely separate list than those I help create for my clients. Napa Mobile Deals is just simply another business that I use under my platform to do SMS Marketing.

I do not see anything wrong with people opting in to receive deals from local businesses and me providing the platform to make it happen. BUT to be safe I will more than likely check into it and post my findings here.

I do not see anything wrong with people opting in to receive deals from local businesses and me providing the platform to make it happen. BUT to be safe I will more than likely check into it and post my findings here.

This is my second post here and I think it's a brilliant idea. It creates more value for the community and the businesses. It's a great way to promote locally owned businesses.

I did not do enough research in the beginning and signed up with a service that did not address all my needs as things started to progress. I recently changed over to Lime Cellular after tons of research as I found them to be the best fit for me. Currently I am experiencing problems with transferring my list over so I strongly suggest doing your research and choosing the best fit for your business. My second choice would have been avid.

Thanks so much for the awesome post, MoBuzz. Just wondering what specific needs / requirements you looked for in your search for the right provider?

This is the first time i heard about earning through mobile marketing, i found it interesting and so i took time to read all the comments posted but it gave me the idea that everyone here already knows how to do it and earn from it. Since i am a newbie in this forum and still working my way to find the best earning "thing" i could do online may i please ask what this is all about and how am i going to do it and earn from it too? Thanks!

This is the first time i heard about earning through mobile marketing, i found it interesting and so i took time to read all the comments posted but it gave me the idea that everyone here already knows how to do it and earn from it. Since i am a newbie in this forum and still working my way to find the best earning "thing" i could do online may i please ask what this is all about and how am i going to do it and earn from it too? Thanks!

Hi, if you read the post on this thread I pretty much tell you exactly what I am doing. I am not sure exactly what you are asking. But YES you can def earn money with mobile marketing thru SMS campaigns and Mobile sites. Good luck in whatever you choose to pursue.

You've got a great idea going hear but if I've got a key question to ask.

Are your clients sending out the same offer every month to the same subscribers? I'm thinking that unless it's a super deal that your subscribers would look for every month they would get tired of seeing the same offer month after month. Kind of what happens with coupon books and mailers.

Plus I'm also thinking that your clients would rather capture those customers for themselves once they come in the first time. One thing I've found with clients is they don't like to keep giving deals to the customers they've already got. They would rather increase the amount and frequency of purchase by those clients.

I guess what I see happening sooner than later is that your clients would drop out after one or two runs. Then you're constantly looking for new clients to fill one of those 30 spots.

Plus when you look at conversion rates if the list is only 2500 and they are getting texts everyday it's very likely that you would get on average only a .5% conversion rate which is only 12 people and most likely even lower than that unless it's a really super super deal. This is mainly because your list is receiving an offer everyday and will start to ignore it. 3-4 messages per month is the only way to keep them interested and engaged.

Not trying to be a downer but just realistic. With all the info out there about 97% open rates and 10% - 20% conversion rates clients will be disappointed right away and drop right out. You definitely don't want that to happen. Plus if clients start dropping out you'll end up with no funds to pay for your per message fees.

Plus in today's economy most people will subscribe but not be able to afford reacting to every offer. So worrying about breaking up the list because of hundreds of people showing up for the offer just won't happen.

Let us know how it goes for you in the next couple of months. I hope it does work for you though. If I think of anything to help I'll be sure to post it here for you.

You've got a great idea going hear but if I've got a key question to ask.

Are your clients sending out the same offer every month to the same subscribers? I'm thinking that unless it's a super deal that your subscribers would look for every month they would get tired of seeing the same offer month after month. Kind of what happens with coupon books and mailers.

Plus I'm also thinking that your clients would rather capture those customers for themselves once they come in the first time. One thing I've found with clients is they don't like to keep giving deals to the customers they've already got. They would rather increase the amount and frequency of purchase by those clients.

I guess what I see happening sooner than later is that your clients would drop out after one or two runs. Then you're constantly looking for new clients to fill one of those 30 spots.

Plus when you look at conversion rates if the list is only 2500 and they are getting texts everyday it's very likely that you would get on average only a .5% conversion rate which is only 12 people and most likely even lower than that unless it's a really super super deal. This is mainly because your list is receiving an offer everyday and will start to ignore it. 3-4 messages per month is the only way to keep them interested and engaged.

Not trying to be a downer but just realistic. With all the info out there about 97% open rates and 10% - 20% conversion rates clients will be disappointed right away and drop right out. You definitely don't want that to happen. Plus if clients start dropping out you'll end up with no funds to pay for your per message fees.

Plus in today's economy most people will subscribe but not be able to afford reacting to every offer. So worrying about breaking up the list because of hundreds of people showing up for the offer just won't happen.

Let us know how it goes for you in the next couple of months. I hope it does work for you though. If I think of anything to help I'll be sure to post it here for you.

Mark...

Hi Mark, all very great questions. I am still trying to figure out how many of those things will work out as well. Here are a few of the ways I am planning on addressing those issues.

1. I plan to have a couple different list. For example if I have 3 different list and rotate them subscribers would only get an ad from the same business every three months. As well advertisers are sending to a new group each month.

2. I require the ad to be changed every month.

3. I only send out strong offers. When I discuss ROI with clients I talk to them in terms of a customers worth over 6 months or a year. Its my job to help them turn that new customer into a regular thru there in house SMS Program.

4. To follow up on number 3 we will set up an in house SMS campaign for them as well to create customer loyalty by sending them extra special offers once they have opted in thru their keyword.

5. I will also be sending out the occasional "text to win" for things like movie tickets, dinner for two ect to keep subscribers engaged.

The real purpose of Napa Mobile Deals is to show them how SMS can bring in customers and increase customer loyalty. Hopefully after 2 or 3 months they will have there own opt in list built (def will if i am doing my job) and they can focus on that.

Of coarse they can still mail out specials promotions if and when they want (as long as there is a spot open).

I do not mind working to keep those 30 spots full, after all I hope to have 100s of SMS Clients and having spots opening up will make that easier to reach. (i hope)

Again thanks for taking the time to write a well thought out post, I would love to here any ideas you might have.

You've got a great idea going hear but if I've got a key question to ask.

Are your clients sending out the same offer every month to the same subscribers? I'm thinking that unless it's a super deal that your subscribers would look for every month they would get tired of seeing the same offer month after month. Kind of what happens with coupon books and mailers.

Plus I'm also thinking that your clients would rather capture those customers for themselves once they come in the first time. One thing I've found with clients is they don't like to keep giving deals to the customers they've already got. They would rather increase the amount and frequency of purchase by those clients.

I guess what I see happening sooner than later is that your clients would drop out after one or two runs. Then you're constantly looking for new clients to fill one of those 30 spots.

Plus when you look at conversion rates if the list is only 2500 and they are getting texts everyday it's very likely that you would get on average only a .5% conversion rate which is only 12 people and most likely even lower than that unless it's a really super super deal. This is mainly because your list is receiving an offer everyday and will start to ignore it. 3-4 messages per month is the only way to keep them interested and engaged.

Not trying to be a downer but just realistic. With all the info out there about 97% open rates and 10% - 20% conversion rates clients will be disappointed right away and drop right out. You definitely don't want that to happen. Plus if clients start dropping out you'll end up with no funds to pay for your per message fees.

Plus in today's economy most people will subscribe but not be able to afford reacting to every offer. So worrying about breaking up the list because of hundreds of people showing up for the offer just won't happen.

Let us know how it goes for you in the next couple of months. I hope it does work for you though. If I think of anything to help I'll be sure to post it here for you.

Mark...

I should add that I wouldn't fully agree that people will get tired of seeing the same adds once a month, or atleast different offers from the same businesses once a month. Having worked as a sales manager for ValPak and the Money Mailer I can say the opposite is actually true. Clients that mailed once or twice did not receive the greatest results. In fact clients that committed to 6 month campaigns or longer see the best results. With the numbers starting to improve after 3 or four months. I am not saying that this is what will happen with my program More of just a general thought. The fact that my list will be 2500 compared to there mailings being a min of 10 000 per could be a huge difference. Hopefully the open rate swings it in my favor.

I should add that I wouldn't fully agree that people will get tired of seeing the same adds once a month, or atleast different offers from the same businesses once a month. Having worked as a sales manager for ValPak and the Money Mailer I can say the opposite is actually true. Clients that mailed once or twice did not receive the greatest results. In fact clients that committed to 6 month campaigns or longer see the best results. With the numbers starting to improve after 3 or four months. I am not saying that this is what will happen with my program More of just a general thought. The fact that my list will be 2500 compared to there mailings being a min of 10 000 per could be a huge difference. Hopefully the open rate swings it in my favor.

Remember that those paper coupons coming in the mail are received....what? at most once a month? And they come in the mail. not in a text message on a person's phone every day.

I agree that SMS coupons marketing is a great idea. Even after researching several different business ideas, I finally landed on SMS Marketing and Mobile Websites. By the way, I went with one company and quickly switched to Lime also. Their new mobile website builder is awesome. You just have to learn all it can do and don't take the basics as that's all.

After having said that, I would not want to be getting a coupon every day.

Remember that those paper coupons coming in the mail are received....what? at most once a month? And they come in the mail. not in a text message on a person's phone every day.

I agree that SMS coupons marketing is a great idea. Even after researching several different business ideas, I finally landed on SMS Marketing and Mobile Websites. By the way, I went with one company and quickly switched to Lime also. Their new mobile website builder is awesome. You just have to learn all it can do and don't take the basics as that's all.

After having said that, I would not want to be getting a coupon every day.

Maybe I'm wrong about the general population. I usually am.

Keep us informed about how you're doing. And Good Luck,

Mike

Hey Mike, yes you are correct in that Valpak ect arrives once a month. Sending a text out to the list once a day may prove to be to much. That is def my biggest concern. I am trying to make the daily coupons less painful for subscribers by letting them know that they will receive the coupon around for pm everyday. If its a coupon they like they can just save the text., if not they can just delete it. As well I am trying to keep the offers very strong, buy one get one ect. I am also thinking of doing a weekly text to win contest, where subscribers can win a free dinner for two or movie tickets ect. I just have to do the math a little more to be sure that with the cost of the text and the give away to be sure it doesn't eat to much into the profit.

Either way I am sure in 6 months the program will look alot different than it does now because of adjustments that will need to be made. If in the end it does not work out but I get 30 more SMS clients along the way I would say it was still worth the effort. I am pretty good with retaining my clients so it should workout.

Did you have any problems switching your list over to Lime? Been a nightmare for me, not that it has anything to do with Lime.

If I remember right, the other company we are talking about says that your list is yours, that own the list. Forgive me if I'm not right about that. But if that is the case, it seems that they should be able to simply provide you a file of the list and then you could upload them into Lime's platform.

Hey Mike, yes you are correct in that Valpak ect arrives once a month. Sending a text out to the list once a day may prove to be to much. That is def my biggest concern. I am trying to make the daily coupons less painful for subscribers by letting them know that they will receive the coupon around for pm everyday. If its a coupon they like they can just save the text., if not they can just delete it. As well I am trying to keep the offers very strong, buy one get one ect. I am also thinking of doing a weekly text to win contest, where subscribers can win a free dinner for two or movie tickets ect. I just have to do the math a little more to be sure that with the cost of the text and the give away to be sure it doesn't eat to much into the profit.

Either way I am sure in 6 months the program will look alot different than it does now because of adjustments that will need to be made. If in the end it does not work out but I get 30 more SMS clients along the way I would say it was still worth the effort. I am pretty good with retaining my clients so it should workout.

Did you have any problems switching your list over to Lime? Been a nightmare for me, not that it has anything to do with Lime.

MoBuzz,
I, like yourself have a long history in direct mail. I was mailing coupon magazines to nearly 1 million homes in northern Ohio since 1993. Your ideas are right on target... people who opt in are asking for your offers...don't be worried about sending to them. You obviously know the value of getting a good offer for everyone involved... keep it up!

I am doing with mobile something very similar as you are... I will "rent" out my list to some businesses but the ultimate goal being to help the businesses build their own list. Most don't realize their list is the most valuable asset they have in their business. It is my job to teach them how to keep their customers engaged.

Now... to solve the 30 client dilemma ... what is wrong with sending out a list of 5 different offers like this.

DO YOU WANT ANY OF THESE GREAT OFFERS? TEXT BACK THE KEYWORD TO 12345 AND WE WILL SHOOT IT STRAIGHT OVER... WE PROMISE!!!
1. $5.00 OFF LRG PIZZA from abc pizza - text PIZZA
2. FREE DINNER BOGO from abc restaurant - text BOGO
3. FREE PEDICURE with a manicure from abc nails - text NAILS
4. FREE HAIRCUT with any color from abc hair - text HAIR
5. $3.00 OFF CAR WASH from abc wash - text WASH

Send them 5 offers at a time and pray they text back wanting all 5 coupons!!!

I am working now on a method of collecting more targeted info on my opt ins so I can make my own list more valuable and effective... I.E. I can text for you Mrs. Prospect 700 women in your immediate vicinity between the ages of 40-50.

Hope this info helps you!

Ed

P.S. I have spent years putting valpak and money mailer franchisees out of business... ironic now I'm trying to help one. LOL

P.S.S. I'm sure you have seen just like myself the struggling local newspapers occasionally hit on a local deal of the day program that would work better than anything else they ever had. Coupon users... they DO WANT deals every day!

MoBuzz,
I, like yourself have a long history in direct mail. I was mailing coupon magazines to nearly 1 million homes in northern Ohio since 1993. Your ideas are right on target... people who opt in are asking for your offers...don't be worried about sending to them. You obviously know the value of getting a good offer for everyone involved... keep it up!

I am doing with mobile something very similar as you are... I will "rent" out my list to some businesses but the ultimate goal being to help the businesses build their own list. Most don't realize their list is the most valuable asset they have in their business. It is my job to teach them how to keep their customers engaged.

Now... to solve the 30 client dilemma ... what is wrong with sending out a list of 5 different offers like this.

DO YOU WANT ANY OF THESE GREAT OFFERS? TEXT BACK THE KEYWORD TO 12345 AND WE WILL SHOOT IT STRAIGHT OVER... WE PROMISE!!!
1. $5.00 OFF LRG PIZZA from abc pizza - text PIZZA
2. FREE DINNER BOGO from abc restaurant - text BOGO
3. FREE PEDICURE with a manicure from abc nails - text NAILS
4. FREE HAIRCUT with any color from abc hair - text HAIR
5. $3.00 OFF CAR WASH from abc wash - text WASH

Send them 5 offers at a time and pray they text back wanting all 5 coupons!!!

I am working now on a method of collecting more targeted info on my opt ins so I can make my own list more valuable and effective... I.E. I can text for you Mrs. Prospect 700 women in your immediate vicinity between the ages of 40-50.

Hope this info helps you!

Ed

P.S. I have spent years putting valpak and money mailer franchisees out of business... ironic now I'm trying to help one. LOL

P.S.S. I'm sure you have seen just like myself the struggling local newspapers occasionally hit on a local deal of the day program that would work better than anything else they ever had. Coupon users... they DO WANT deals every day!

Hey thanks, that is actually a really good idea, I think I will test that out and see what the results are. I think timing is everything and with the economy the way it is the bad stigma of "couponing" (if that is even a word) is gone and almost everyone does it. People are actually anxious to get a deal. I think the key is, and it will never change, and that is making sure the offers are strong and the results will be good.

Nice threads, I have recently hopped into the mobile marketing as a recent graduate that cannot find a job. Anyways, I was curious of how you engage the business & offer the service to begin with? Communications was my worst class I am just trying to beat this barrier. Do you hit them with statistics ? Or simply explain how it works? Thank you
,Mark

Remember that those paper coupons coming in the mail are received....what? at most once a month? And they come in the mail. not in a text message on a person's phone every day.

I agree that SMS coupons marketing is a great idea. Even after researching several different business ideas, I finally landed on SMS Marketing and Mobile Websites. By the way, I went with one company and quickly switched to Lime also. Their new mobile website builder is awesome. You just have to learn all it can do and don't take the basics as that's all.

After having said that, I would not want to be getting a coupon every day.

Maybe I'm wrong about the general population. I usually am.

Keep us informed about how you're doing. And Good Luck,

Mike

I would'nt mind as long as the offers are dam good. Not some 10% crap, it better be good enough to move the needle.

Keep in mind that anytime a business advertises in any media they are giving a discount to someone that may be coming in anyway and they have to realize that. The key thing to be telling a client is that you want to MAKE SURE they come back in ASAP and not just hope or certainly not assume they will. These days there is the rare business that can safely assume that, consumers just have too many choices out there and are all DEAL DRIVEN. So actually it's the deal they give that will assure a repeat visit, not the other way around! Think about it.......it's a fact. Perception may be reality and I understand that, this is where as a good sales rep you overcome that and help them see the light here. Giving a someone that is in your place of business right now an incentive to come back is the only smart choice a business should be making, help them see that.

Originally Posted by Mark Fromm

Hi MoBuzz,

You've got a great idea going hear but if I've got a key question to ask.

Are your clients sending out the same offer every month to the same subscribers? I'm thinking that unless it's a super deal that your subscribers would look for every month they would get tired of seeing the same offer month after month. Kind of what happens with coupon books and mailers.

Plus I'm also thinking that your clients would rather capture those customers for themselves once they come in the first time. One thing I've found with clients is they don't like to keep giving deals to the customers they've already got. They would rather increase the amount and frequency of purchase by those clients.

I guess what I see happening sooner than later is that your clients would drop out after one or two runs. Then you're constantly looking for new clients to fill one of those 30 spots.

Plus when you look at conversion rates if the list is only 2500 and they are getting texts everyday it's very likely that you would get on average only a .5% conversion rate which is only 12 people and most likely even lower than that unless it's a really super super deal. This is mainly because your list is receiving an offer everyday and will start to ignore it. 3-4 messages per month is the only way to keep them interested and engaged.

Not trying to be a downer but just realistic. With all the info out there about 97% open rates and 10% - 20% conversion rates clients will be disappointed right away and drop right out. You definitely don't want that to happen. Plus if clients start dropping out you'll end up with no funds to pay for your per message fees.

Plus in today's economy most people will subscribe but not be able to afford reacting to every offer. So worrying about breaking up the list because of hundreds of people showing up for the offer just won't happen.

Let us know how it goes for you in the next couple of months. I hope it does work for you though. If I think of anything to help I'll be sure to post it here for you.

Amazing, I really like how much perform you put into developing your own record. I can see how that one promotion fun time could help close off the cope. How many members do you have? What SMS Foundation were you using and who are you using now?

How did you set everything up MoBuzz for you to be able to give this kind of service?

You should sell a course on this kind of knowledge you have, I have seen courses out there that don't talk about anything you have mentioned here today all they talk about is designing graphics and E-mailing local businesses with examples etc.

How did you set everything up MoBuzz for you to be able to give this kind of service?

You should sell a course on this kind of knowledge you have, I have seen courses out there that don't talk about anything you have mentioned here today all they talk about is designing graphics and E-mailing local businesses with examples etc.

Great post

Thank you.. I was thinking about putting something together, Either free or just enough to cover time and expenses. If anyone with experience putting together WSOs would like to partner hit me up ; )

Great post! I too set up a Lime cellular WL and am adding Mobile Marketing to our Consulting business. We mainly deal with businesses in the fitness, recreation, sports, health, and leisure verticles/industries.

I like your ideas regarding developing an opt-in list for a specific geographical area (e.g. town) and getting local business to buy into your service of developing a mobile coupon for them and texting it out once a month to that list.

My questions are:
1.) How long did it take you to develop that list of 1000 plus opt ins?
2.) Do you do that first before recruiting business clients or do you do both simultaneously?
3.) I would think that early on your opt-in list would only get a few texts a week until you've recruited enough business clients. Is that how it works - Opt ins start receiving a coupon at 4PM maybe twice a week, then 3 times, 4, and so on until it's once a day?
4.) Do you post ads in local newspapers to build your opt-in lists? (e.g. Text: 'keyword' to 12345 and receive one text message at 4PM each day offering freebies and discounts from local businesses)
5.) Where do you post flyers you mentioned in earlier posts?
6.) If you are recruiting business clients while you're developing your master opt-in list, what do you tell them (business owners) in regard to how many people will be receiving the mobile coupon you develop and text out for them - Do you just give them the current count?
7.) How do you prove you have a list - do you show them a report?

Anyway sorry for bombarding you with so many questions, but any help you can offer will be much appreciated. Plus, we are looking for some a guideline or template that we can follow in terms of how many text messages to offer a business, at what price, what we should charge for servicing them monthly, how many campaigns we should commit to and at what price. We don't want to over extend ourselves and be tied up with one client at a price that causes us to lose our shirt. We don't want to do too little for the client and charge too much either. Again, any help will be much appreciated. We will certainly pass it on once we're proficient enough at the business. There's a great saying, which is also a paradox which states: "In order to keep success you must give it away".

Great post! I too set up a Lime cellular WL and am adding Mobile Marketing to our Consulting business. We mainly deal with businesses in the fitness, recreation, sports, health, and leisure verticles/industries.

I like your ideas regarding developing an opt-in list for a specific geographical area (e.g. town) and getting local business to buy into your service of developing a mobile coupon for them and texting it out once a month to that list.

My questions are:
1.) How long did it take you to develop that list of 1000 plus opt ins?
2.) Do you do that first before recruiting business clients or do you do both simultaneously?
3.) I would think that early on your opt-in list would only get a few texts a week until you've recruited enough business clients. Is that how it works - Opt ins start receiving a coupon at 4PM maybe twice a week, then 3 times, 4, and so on until it's once a day?
4.) Do you post ads in local newspapers to build your opt-in lists? (e.g. Text: 'keyword' to 12345 and receive one text message at 4PM each day offering freebies and discounts from local businesses)
5.) Where do you post flyers you mentioned in earlier posts?
6.) If you are recruiting business clients while you're developing your master opt-in list, what do you tell them (business owners) in regard to how many people will be receiving the mobile coupon you develop and text out for them - Do you just give them the current count?
7.) How do you prove you have a list - do you show them a report?

Anyway sorry for bombarding you with so many questions, but any help you can offer will be much appreciated. Plus, we are looking for some a guideline or template that we can follow in terms of how many text messages to offer a business, at what price, what we should charge for servicing them monthly, how many campaigns we should commit to and at what price. We don't want to over extend ourselves and be tied up with one client at a price that causes us to lose our shirt. We don't want to do too little for the client and charge too much either. Again, any help will be much appreciated. We will certainly pass it on once we're proficient enough at the business. There's a great saying, which is also a paradox which states: "In order to keep success you must give it away".

Look forward to your feedback or that from others as well.

Thanks,

FitLife

1. It took me 3 or 4 weeks to hit the 1000 mark.

2. I first offered the service free to a few businesses in order to have coupons to send out during the list building process in the beginning. I had an advantage in that I have sold marketing services in my area for sometime now.

3. The first two weeks I did not send out a single coupon, just an auto response thanking them and giving the the launch date to expect to start receiving coupons.

4/5. No I am not a big fan of the newspaper, but I did put signs up in the businesses that I gave the initial free trial to. I used to work for a local radio station so I used that method. As well I am going to be offering the radio station a cut of the profit for any of there clients wanting to use my SMS service to make their ads more interactive. I just told them that either way I will be targeting their clients and they will have to work with me in incorporating my services either way, why not do it on the front end and get a %. Having done sales for them in the past they know I will follow thru. Waiting to hear back now, but looking good. I also had my kids go out and hand out flyers ect.

5. Yes I always give them a current count.

6. I will actually login and show them my list.

The bottom line is just get out there and spread the word, people seem to love the idea as coupons are "in"

MoBuzz, I agree with others that this is a great post. Thank you for sharing your experience and giving us so many good tips.

My first question also has to do with how you got the first people to sign up for your list. What did you offer to them to get them interested? Did you offer a special deal/discount from the start or simply a promise to receive future deals?

Secondly, how much are you charging the businesses to send their ad to your list and how did you arrive at that figure ($149?)? Has your price increased since your list is also growing? I am becoming interested in following your example but also would want to know how to price this service.

Thanks again and best of luck!

BTW I was near Napa last weekend. Had I read this before, I would have visited.

MoBuzz, I agree with others that this is a great post. Thank you for sharing your experience and giving us so many good tips.

My first question also has to do with how you got the first people to sign up for your list. What did you offer to them to get them interested? Did you offer a special deal/discount from the start or simply a promise to receive future deals?

Secondly, how much are you charging the businesses to send their ad to your list and how did you arrive at that figure ($149?)? Has your price increased since your list is also growing? I am becoming interested in following your example but also would want to know how to price this service.

Thanks again and best of luck!

BTW I was near Napa last weekend. Had I read this before, I would have visited.

I simply promise them great deals on things they will actually want. not 5$ off a smog ect. It cost them nothing and is very easy to opt out if they decide it is not for them.

How much you charge is simply a matter of doing the math. Depends on what platform you are using ect. My main goal was and is to show them that SMS works and to set them up with there own in house plan. I want a residual income from them forever... In other words it is not really a stand alone product for me, although it could be.

Sounds like we should call you MoBizz as you really seem to be in tune to some great ways to accomplish getting "More Business".

I plan to use a variety of methods to create a list for specific groups of towns and then get local businesses signed on for our coupon blasts. Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas and also answer my questions. I do believe you're creating some good karma by helping others. This will come back to you in a good way, mark my words

I am so glad I found your post, you have graciously shared so much valuable,
useful and informative knowledge regarding your own personal Mobile Marketing
methodology combined with other relevant and up to date info such as your
experience different SMS providers.

Thanks! You could package all of this info up into a great ebook
As someone else said above, I've gotten more out of your post than
I have gotten from some purchases.

Now... to solve the 30 client dilemma ... what is wrong with sending out a list of 5 different offers like this.

DO YOU WANT ANY OF THESE GREAT OFFERS? TEXT BACK THE KEYWORD TO 12345 AND WE WILL SHOOT IT STRAIGHT OVER... WE PROMISE!!!
1. $5.00 OFF LRG PIZZA from abc pizza - text PIZZA
2. FREE DINNER BOGO from abc restaurant - text BOGO
3. FREE PEDICURE with a manicure from abc nails - text NAILS
4. FREE HAIRCUT with any color from abc hair - text HAIR
5. $3.00 OFF CAR WASH from abc wash - text WASH

Send them 5 offers at a time and pray they text back wanting all 5 coupons!!!

It is a good idea but it means double the outgoing text thus double the cost for me...also instead of putting a coupon in their hand, you are giving them a chance to get 5 coupons in there hand... its a matter of doing the math and testing it.

P.S.
I would not want to trade more money in the short term for satisfied clients that give me 300 a month for the next ten years..

What about mixing also sms with mobile landingpages. This way there's no need to sms (normal ratings) back for respondents. And that way you can just provide 1 link saying YOUR DAILY OFFERS! Still everything happens on their mobile. SMS doesnt have to stay SMS. Same goes for offering couponcodes (with a landingpage) to clients. Real estate agent who use adds in the newspaper love that you can make an add go viral by just putting a QRcode instead of only ONE picture of the house they offer. BE HONEST ALL... How many QRcodes do you see appear in adds when you have a look in the newspaper.

Its the same with the start of internet all over again. Not one company could see the potential of what it could do because they saw it as something NEW. No, it wasn't something new (as mobile marketing isnt something new), it was another method of communication, just like the fax offered a NEW dimension in extend of the phone. Now a days we see something appear like "for more info go to.....and then a www address. Because thats what it is in essence. A part of communication but with MORE interactivity and room for info. Just think about how you can mix things up with other tools to optimize the communication between sender and receiver.

And about your lists; just build a new list every month, this way you will get 12 lists in total (30days/12=2.5) so you send out every 3 days an offer sms per list per month. And also give optin options on different interests like Local Restaurant Offers, Local in house (furniture etc.) and more splitting up easy to do with a mobile landingpage. That way the lists become more targetted and therefor more valueable to both you your audience and your new clients. But I would use a mobile landingspage for singning up. Then you don't have to worry about where the data is going to and you wont be depending on SMS suppliers. you could even use VOIP providers that way, using your own lists Don't get stuck with whats offered but try always to look beyond....

Now for newbies and mobile marketeers that want/need an edge... I will help you and we both get better from it since I have something like MO to get an edge in one of the biggest branches. thats why MO's clients are also in the restaurant business. They're always looking for new clients and for sure in this econemy

What I have to offer in a nutshell;

I do own several domains (based on search volume) like chineserestaurant.in, greekrestaurant.in and so on.

Why I have those? to give me the edge in mobile (online) marketing. For if you want to sell a client something and tell them WHY they need it (like a mobile website) as in any business a lot of them will say thanks and then....go to the one they trust and who is doing already things related like their normal website and tell you this the second time you call back. You have to compete with somebody they already know and trust and in 99% of the case you will loose since that person will always say YES I CAN DO THAT FOR YOU. Even if he cant, knowing that there is a need for it he/she WILL find a way to deliver (good or bad) the same reason why we all want to offer mobile in the first place.

So I was looking for a way that I don't have to compete because I can give them something that their "trusty" CANT. I host their mobile website on the domain of their choice mostly being the same as what kind of kitchen they have offcourse. So a mobile website for a greek restaurant in lets say newyork will be hosted on greekrestaurant.in/newyork/?longisland/THEMOBILEWEBSITETITEL

Do you see whats happened here? The mobile website (like a page) gets a domainname like GREEK RESTAURANT IN NEWYORK LONG ISLAND GREEKY ! Hows that for KEYWORDRICH and what can that do for SEO you think? A lot since no matter what algoritmes change Google and consortium will always look at the domainname first. Beside that, the subdomain like greekrestaurant.in/newyork can act as a LISTINGPAGE for other restaurants as well when there is a search with a DESKTOP PC. And you can give your new client also a free ??? 6 months of listing on the domain as well Or just untill the end of the year and charge them from beginning 2013 a monthly fee as well.

So you're actually saying to future clients. I'm NOT selling you a mobile website, I'm offering you a change to put something you already need (the mobile site) to use so it can bring you more visitors AKA clients. Plus the extra from the traffic thru the listingsite as well instead of putting it on your own domain getting the same results as your domain does now...

The listing domain itself WILL BECOME highly RELAVANT and SPECIFIC with content the likes! Do we all know what Google wants? And don't forget it gets as local as it can get.

So whats the deal. Simple, no matter how many hours a day of time I have, I can't reach the whole English world. Don't forget, this is also great in all major toerist places for English speaking travellers. Like here in Amsterdam where we get a few million toerists a year for different reasons, but still they have to eat right.

So I can use some help. I believe in some kind of sharing. I dont charge up front, I just want a part of the earnings (25%) from the mobile site and the listing fees. Every other service you want to offer is 100% yours offcourse. Don't forget you're becoming that TRUSTY after you land them and for anything NEW they will come to you first always. Also the former TRUSTY is out of the picture since he/she has proven to be a little slow on new innovations and adding extra value for their customer. Don't forget to remind the restaurant about that to

I will provide the following:
A town off your choice as a wordpress install
I do have a mobile website builder with devoloper rights that can be used to build your clients mobile websites. All tutorials are with it in wordpress so very easy to use and you can create ANY kind off mobile website with any kind of features that wordpress uses. Yes you can use any kind of plugin from wordpress to!

I also got a listingsite from someone who bought the devolopment license to try out. But maybe this is something we can do all together as well or hire someone to do for us later since I don't really like it. But maybe there is enough knowledge within the upcoming group to tweak it. My wordpress coding skills just wont do. And I always believe its better to build something with people who believe and are part of the project for what the are creating.

So I already started 1 listingpage and I'm gonna put the mobile clients on the subdomain in the coming weeks. The response of my prospects is WAY higher then before I offered them this. Before it was 20-30% positive in the first contact moment and most of them said thanks but I asked my webdesigner if he could do it to and so he's now building one for me!!! I got exactly ONE mobile website client from the first batch of 50 I called 2 weeks ago.

Now for the last days...60-70% positive in the first contact moment and from the 5 I did call back the second time 2 said yes, 2 didn't have the time to read it yet and the other one said he didn't need it since he is already full everyday and dont need new clients and doesn't care to much for a mobile website since his customers dont say anything about it. So until now I already have 2 clients, 2 who asked to be called back later since they didn't have the time to read it all through yet and one who was to high up a mountain And don't forget I have to call back around 30 more in the coming days, so the respons can only become bigger. I know, the numbers don't say much normally on 50 or even 100. But trust me if I say the restaurant owner gets it and listen much better then the first 50 I called. If you listen carefully you can ALWAYS hear an OHHHH even if they dont say it

Ohhh, and BTW, I will also give you all restaurants in your area in CSV with all contact info like address, phone, website, email (if available online) and if there is a WAP, m. or .mobi domain. Even if they have still check to make sure if they have a mobile website yes or no since a lot of them did buy a .mobi or made a m. domain but still dont have the mobile site up. And whats left of the list you can use to email about a listing on your LOCAL and SPECIFIC listingsite.

That was in short what I can give anybody who wants it as an edge. If you like the idea just mail me at: dennis AT dmte DOT nl
And mail me which city you would like to start with. And then you can start contacting the chinese restaurants in your local area since they have the highest searchvolume last time i checked and can be the quickest growing listingsite to.

I do want to mention one thing do. Do NOT put more then around 5-8 reataurants on a sub like /newyork/longisland since MORE would mean the restaurants you have as a client will be competing on first page rank for the same keywords. This is also you have to tell the restaurants, that its a ONE time offer and stands until the gaps are filled. The listingsite will NOT be mobile responsive so it will NOT show up in mobile searches. But if anyone has ideas/thoughts on that I'm open to it.

And also ONLY use WHITE HAT SEO. It will go slower, but it will be much better for the future.

Ugh just because businesses will buy text marketing doesn't mean that people like to get them. They are soooooo annoying!!! I'd rather get a coupon from an app on mobile site than a text. I keep reading this 97% open rate, well duh!!!! Of course your going to open it. You're going to open it and get ticked off!!! LOL

Well, duh... of course they are annoying if you didn't ask
to receive them but what we're talking about is building an
opt-in list with opt-out instructions on every text.

Nobody receives a text from me or any of my clients without
asking for it.

This really is a good string... anyone can take this info and do it exactly as we've discussed here. I cannot emphasize enough though and I'm glad MoBuzz that you stated it again... The main idea here is to get the businesses to develop their own list. I don't want to go out selling my list to prospects everyday to make a living. (Although when businesses use my list they always will want to again) The residual income that you will make in the long run is much more valuable from the clients and their lists. I consider myself an average person, like everyone else, and I like making money while sipping margarita's on the beach!

Do send out more than one offer at a time... three offers and your list is three times more likely to find something they will use and be thankful for being on your list for.

Wow MoBuzz... I just realized that I'm as lazy as most salespeople... lol

This really is a good string... anyone can take this info and do it exactly as we've discussed here. I cannot emphasize enough though and I'm glad MoBuzz that you stated it again... The main idea here is to get the businesses to develop their own list. I don't want to go out selling my list to prospects everyday to make a living. (Although when businesses use my list they always will want to again) The residual income that you will make in the long run is much more valuable from the clients and their lists. I consider myself an average person, like everyone else, and I like making money while sipping margarita's on the beach!

Do send out more than one offer at a time... three offers and your list is three times more likely to find something they will use and be thankful for being on your list for.

Wow MoBuzz... I just realized that I'm as lazy as most salespeople... lol

Yes I agree the key is def to use your list as a tool to create residual income. However I am about to start creating my second list in a week or or so. I also agree that anyone can do this wherever they are.

Hey I have went thru plenty of lazy periods myself..That is the great thing about sales, there is always money to be made if motivated.

Very impressive. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
I have been trying out several white label providers and watching many webinars. I was torn between avid and lime. I didn't care about the limited mobile templates from lime and wanted more. I review the webinar for Avid and became very interested and signed up online for a free trial, just like I had with several others including lime. It's been nothing but a hassle trying to get the trial account activated. I have been working with Mark C and although he has been very responsive, my user name and password for their trial account has once again come back "invalid". I've tried several browsers as suggested..no luck. Guess I'll go with Lime, especially after hearing good things listed in this thread. Again, thank you so much for the great information.

Great advice! I've been doing mobile marketing for a bit of time now and can say that building your own list helps out tremendously. Business owners are generally skeptical of people who say they can bring in x amount of customers a month. If you are able to show them first hand though that will make you stand out against any of your competition. Bottom line: show them they are getting a good value. Bring in customers to their store because you want to help them, not because you want their money. Taking the viewpoint of wanting to help businesses rather than profit from them will make you trustworthy and well respected in your community.

This is a great idea. Are you having to send this in multiple text messages since it has 390 characters + the disclaimers and the actual business names?

It was an idea someone thru out. I have not actually sent out multiple offers like this yet but I will the end of the week. I will shorten it up to three offers to keep the characters down. let everyone know how it goes.

This is a great idea. Are you having to send this in multiple text messages since it has 390 characters + the disclaimers and the actual business names?

I made this text longer on purpose for clarity...
Just wanted everyone to understand that sending multiple offers was more desireable for the consumer and solved the dilemma of only being able to serve 30 clients. This is a much better idea than multiple lists because the larger your list the bigger the fee.

I made this text longer on purpose for clarity...
Just wanted everyone to understand that sending multiple offers was more desireable for the consumer and solved the dilemma of only being able to serve 30 clients. This is a much better idea than multiple lists because the larger your list the bigger the fee.

It makes sense to me.

However, i think both of your ideas can work in tandem.

Of course, by testing we can get a more clear & realistic picture of what's working.

I have to say that both of your thoughts on this is brewing new ideas in me. Thanks a lot.

This is a great idea. Are you having to send this in multiple text messages since it has 390 characters + the disclaimers and the actual business names?

This is a fantastic idea, however my solution would be to include a link here that would take them to a mobile landing page where you would then display the 3 or 5 or 10 offers. This eliminates the need of worrying about text limitations and looks more professional, and easy for them to access later. The mobile landing page url would stay the same, but the offers on the page would rotate as often ad needed and the person would just bookmark that page for easy access. On that page you would have your logo, disclaimers, how the program works, links back to the customers websites and any other additional information needed such as location maps etc. This would really jazz up your offers, make them super professional and allow you to greatly expand your market. The other added benefit of the mobile landing page is that if you use a service just at PIJNZ to build your page, you can add a redemption function to each coupon which adds tracking to each coupon use, and once the person used that coupon it cannot be used again, assuring the business owner that no one can keep using that offer over and over to the same person, which they probably do not want to do....that should be a huge selling feature, and encourage them to give you a super great offer since they know if can only be used one time per customer.

So I have a youth football team that is a SMS client. I just decided to do a fund raiser with the organization. They will be handing out flyers and trying to get as many people as they can to opt in to Napa Mobile Deals. I am going to give them .50 cents for everyone they sign up. Let everyone know how it goes.

You will get a good response doing that mobizz... I love working with fundraising groups... you can expect a little higher attrition rate with these people opting out because many will sign up just till they get their first text. I suggest therefore you give this list free one time for a local restaurant to give an awesome bogo offer.

I just want to remind people to talk to EVERYONE that they know about there business. You never know when and where the next big lead will come from. I just signed a big client today(local winery) that I had been over looking for months. Was rite in front of my eyes too. Network Network Network

I played around with the multi-coupon model a bit and this is what I did: I created a mobile landing page with three links to three coupons (i.e. Gym Pass, Free Tanning, Discount Golf) which people from my "town deals" opt-in list will gain access to from a text message I send which states: "click this think to receive three special offers from local merchants". That link takes them to my mobile landing page with the three coupon options. They simply click on the link and receive the coupon for each offer they're interested in.

The cost factor amounts to this: 1 text credit to send the text, and 2 credits used for each coupon. So in essence I need to factor in the cost for 7 text credits used and if my list is 1000 people strong that one blast could cost 7,000 credits.

I haven't launched this yet officially. I am wondering if businesses find that they are getting traffic from the 1000 people you send coupons to once or twice a month and if they think it's worth the $300 per month. I am planning on charging about $200 and comparing the cost to sending out a mailer to 1000 people, thus demonstrating the discount value of the mobile method. Plus, I plan to emphasize that the people receiving their (the business's) coupon have requested it when they joined my "town deals" list.

I like the mobile landing page simply because you will really be able to brand your product now... I think the extra texts make that worth it.

You really should be using a service where your not paying for inbound text messages and that would cost less.

I am thinking that $300. for a blast of only 1000 names may be a bit too much. I am just comparing this to direct mail where businesses get from me 15,000 pieces put into the homes all around their business. If you build the value to the client and show them how it will make them much more than their cost it is still very doable. I personally would stick to a price of $199.

I think I am going to use your landing page idea... I love that being able to brand my text service and you will also be able to sell the business something that looks more graphical than a text message but with that effectiveness... I LOVE IT!!!

I like the mobile landing page simply because you will really be able to brand your product now... I think the extra texts make that worth it.

You really should be using a service where your not paying for inbound text messages and that would cost less.

I am thinking that $300. for a blast of only 1000 names may be a bit too much. I am just comparing this to direct mail where businesses get from me 15,000 pieces put into the homes all around their business. If you build the value to the client and show them how it will make them much more than their cost it is still very doable. I personally would stick to a price of $199.

I think I am going to use your landing page idea... I love that being able to brand my text service and you will also be able to sell the business something that looks more graphical than a text message but with that effectiveness... I LOVE IT!!!

Thanks AdWizard,

I am using Lime. I just started with them. I believe that when people text into a campaign, there's no charge for a credit; however, when a text response is sent back there's a charge of one credit (e.g. Thanks for joining our Special Offers List). If I include a link to a coupon and the person clicks on it, then there's a charge for another credit used, for a total of 2 credits charged to my account.

I played around with the multi-coupon model a bit and this is what I did: I created a mobile landing page with three links to three coupons (i.e. Gym Pass, Free Tanning, Discount Golf) which people from my "town deals" opt-in list will gain access to from a text message I send which states: "click this think to receive three special offers from local merchants". That link takes them to my mobile landing page with the three coupon options. They simply click on the link and receive the coupon for each offer they're interested in.

The cost factor amounts to this: 1 text credit to send the text, and 2 credits used for each coupon. So in essence I need to factor in the cost for 7 text credits used and if my list is 1000 people strong that one blast could cost 7,000 credits.

I haven't launched this yet officially. I am wondering if businesses find that they are getting traffic from the 1000 people you send coupons to once or twice a month and if they think it's worth the $300 per month. I am planning on charging about $200 and comparing the cost to sending out a mailer to 1000 people, thus demonstrating the discount value of the mobile method. Plus, I plan to emphasize that the people receiving their (the business's) coupon have requested it when they joined my "town deals" list.

Any thoughts, comments, or advice on this?

Thanks,

FitLife

I am not charging them $300 a month to send out 1000 coupons. I am charging them 300 a month to manage their Google places, build host and maintain their mobile sites, provide them with table tent, flyers ect and my guidance on building there own mobile opt in list, giving them a monthly consult on their over all marketing plans AND sending their coupon out to my list.

I think the landing page is a good idea, as well as multiple offers. But remember there are coupons EVERYWHERE. The more actions that are required the less the response. In my opinion there is a huge difference between sending someone a mobile coupon that they can use or save for later and sending someone a link to somewhere they can go get a coupon.

Those are great ideas if you are using your list as a stand alone product, if your using it as a tool to close and retain clients it may over complicate things.

P.S.
Sorry if that was all over the place, lacking sleep at the moment )

Ok I am going to give you a quick 3 month plan to set this up and have a strong business after 3 months.

1st month

A. Set up the SMS plan that you will be using.

B. Create a simple website with info on your program.

C. BUILD YOUR LIST... Pass out flyers, tell EVERYONE you know. Make a deal with as many popular businesses as you can to send out a a free coupon for them when the program launches in exchange for putting up a flyer ect to promote the program. Get a few businesses to give away gift certificates that you can then take to your local radio station for them to give away for you on air. (thru your business and text program of coarse) There are just to many ways of building your list to name here BUT BE CREATIVE.

D. During this first month do not send any coupons out at all. Just an auto response thanking them for joining and letting them know when the program will launch.

2nd Month

A. By this time you should have a decent amount of people opted in to your list. Go back to those businesses that you agreed to send out a free coupon for in exchange for promoting your program. Create their coupon and be sure the offer is STRONG. Send out to your list an evaluate the response ect. As well at this point remove the flyers they put up for you and replace with flyers, table tents ect to start building up their own list. This is the start of their 30 day free trial of your program.

B. Create sales packets that you can then take around to local businesses and pass them out. The packets should talk about how your program will bring in more customers, clients ect. Give them a free 30 day trial of your program, give them a few flyers, table tents ect. You can also send out a free coupon for them to your list, I would suggest only doing this for those that you see yourself closing on.

C. During the second month you should be developing an email list as well, use google places, local chamber and so on. Send an email out to this list with a link to a sales page you create offering them a free 30 day trial. I use the lead page that Willr created because it personalizes the sales page and seems to be working great.

D. The big focus for month two is planting as many seeds as you can. That means signing up atleast 50 businesses for free trials.

Month 3

A. Close
B. Close
C. Close

Between showing them how committed you are to their business, the immediate results from mailing to your list, and helping them to build there own list you should easily be able to close over 50% of the businesses you set up on free trials. I like to throw in a mobile website and do some work to boost up there Google Places too. Its about building relationships and developing a residual income.

P.S.
Again sorry if this sounds all over the place.. Still way behind on sleep. Time to take a vacation for a couple days )

This is very helpful and I appreciate your time, especially with little sleep under your belt.

Have you checked out Goxbee? I have been reading the threads which started last week up until today and wonder if it's the real deal.

FitLife

No I have not but I will def check it out.

Edit.. Just checked it out (only a quick check)

Seems like a good thing. Personally I like building my list and sending coupons out on behalf of my clients. Its two easy steps and almost guaranteed results. I do not have to promote an app or drive people to a website ect.. Then again I only looked at their program for a sec so maybe I am missing something. Will have to look at it closer when I have time.

Seems like a good thing. Personally I like building my list and sending coupons out on behalf of my clients. Its two easy steps and almost guaranteed results. I do not have to promote an app or drive people to a website ect.. Then again I only looked at their program for a sec so maybe I am missing something. Will have to look at it closer when I have time.

I checked out their site and it was very amateurish. Lots of mistakes and so forth. I sent them a note and asked to speak with someone. They sent a phone number and I spoke with one of the managing partners and showed him some of the mistakes. If their site is any reflection of the quality of the product and service they're offering, then that could be a problem. I said that to the person I spoke with too. He assured me that the proper infrastructure to support everything they're promoting is in place, but as far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out.

Great thread, you are absolutely generous with your guidance here. Thank you so much.

Question: Could you share with us an example of flyers for item C ??

Originally Posted by MoBuzz

Ok I am going to give you a quick 3 month plan to set this up and have a strong business after 3 months.

1st month

A. Set up the SMS plan that you will be using.

B. Create a simple website with info on your program.

C. BUILD YOUR LIST... Pass out flyers, tell EVERYONE you know. Make a deal with as many popular businesses as you can to send out a a free coupon for them when the program launches in exchange for putting up a flyer ect to promote the program. Get a few businesses to give away gift certificates that you can then take to your local radio station for them to give away for you on air. (thru your business and text program of coarse) There are just to many ways of building your list to name here BUT BE CREATIVE.

D. During this first month do not send any coupons out at all. Just an auto response thanking them for joining and letting them know when the program will launch.

2nd Month

A. By this time you should have a decent amount of people opted in to your list. Go back to those businesses that you agreed to send out a free coupon for in exchange for promoting your program. Create their coupon and be sure the offer is STRONG. Send out to your list an evaluate the response ect. As well at this point remove the flyers they put up for you and replace with flyers, table tents ect to start building up their own list. This is the start of their 30 day free trial of your program.

B. Create sales packets that you can then take around to local businesses and pass them out. The packets should talk about how your program will bring in more customers, clients ect. Give them a free 30 day trial of your program, give them a few flyers, table tents ect. You can also send out a free coupon for them to your list, I would suggest only doing this for those that you see yourself closing on.

C. During the second month you should be developing an email list as well, use google places, local chamber and so on. Send an email out to this list with a link to a sales page you create offering them a free 30 day trial. I use the lead page that Willr created because it personalizes the sales page and seems to be working great.

D. The big focus for month two is planting as many seeds as you can. That means signing up atleast 50 businesses for free trials.

Month 3

A. Close
B. Close
C. Close

Between showing them how committed you are to their business, the immediate results from mailing to your list, and helping them to build there own list you should easily be able to close over 50% of the businesses you set up on free trials. I like to throw in a mobile website and do some work to boost up there Google Places too. Its about building relationships and developing a residual income.

P.S.
Again sorry if this sounds all over the place.. Still way behind on sleep. Time to take a vacation for a couple days )

Hey Mobuzz, I know you've moved on to bigger/better things (congrats on the success, BTW), but I read this thread back in November and was so inspired that I've taken massive action and am implementing this plan to get my business rolling--so THANK YOU!

I am about 2 weeks from starting to build my list and getting businesses on board, (I am starting my biz from scratch) and I have a question you could help me with. Regarding the highlighted part of your message below:

Originally Posted by MoBuzz

Ok I am going to give you a quick 3 month plan to set this up and have a strong business after 3 months.

A. By this time you should have a decent amount of people opted in to your list. Go back to those businesses that you agreed to send out a free coupon for in exchange for promoting your program. Create their coupon and be sure the offer is STRONG. Send out to your list an evaluate the response ect. As well at this point remove the flyers they put up for you and replace with flyers, table tents ect to start building up their own list. This is the start of their 30 day free trial of your program.

My question is kinda on the technical side...I am also using Lime, and I've created my deals list as a new "business" on my dashboard. When you start to transition your businesses from the deals list to building their own list, do you set them up as a new account, or just create a new list on your account and then import the list if the business signs on?

I don't really want to do all the work of setting up a new client and then have to delete the account if they decide they don't want to continue.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Again, you have NO idea how much this has thread inspired me--thank you!

I like the mobile directory angle. Do you think .mobi domains are a good fit for these or do you think sticking to a .com would be preferable?

I use both and point htem at my directory.

Originally Posted by PNWgrl

Hey Mobuzz, I know you've moved on to bigger/better things (congrats on the success, BTW), but I read this thread back in November and was so inspired that I've taken massive action and am implementing this plan to get my business rolling--so THANK YOU!

I am about 2 weeks from starting to build my list and getting businesses on board, (I am starting my biz from scratch) and I have a question you could help me with. Regarding the highlighted part of your message below:

My question is kinda on the technical side...I am also using Lime, and I've created my deals list as a new "business" on my dashboard. When you start to transition your businesses from the deals list to building their own list, do you set them up as a new account, or just create a new list on your account and then import the list if the business signs on?

I don't really want to do all the work of setting up a new client and then have to delete the account if they decide they don't want to continue.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Again, you have NO idea how much this has thread inspired me--thank you!

Hi I just seen your question and thanks for the kind words. In a bit of a rush at the moment but will come back and give you an anwser soon : )

Thanks so much for the awesome post, MoBuzz. Just wondering what specific needs / requirements you looked for in your search for the right provider?

For me what was important was a combination of the following1. Stability of provider2. Price3. FeaturesHonestly there are many great providers out there. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to choose one and get out there talking to business owners.

Originally Posted by dziumandzy

Thank you for this post, It`s really a good and valuable information, thank you again.

Thanks, glad you found it useful : )

Originally Posted by edwardca

Mobuzz, I've got to say - this post alone made me glad that I joined this forum. You're awesome dude.

I am not charging them $300 a month to send out 1000 coupons. I am charging them 300 a month to manage their Google places, build host and maintain their mobile sites, provide them with table tent, flyers ect and my guidance on building there own mobile opt in list, giving them a monthly consult on their over all marketing plans AND sending their coupon out to my list.

I think the landing page is a good idea, as well as multiple offers. But remember there are coupons EVERYWHERE. The more actions that are required the less the response. In my opinion there is a huge difference between sending someone a mobile coupon that they can use or save for later and sending someone a link to somewhere they can go get a coupon.

Those are great ideas if you are using your list as a stand alone product, if your using it as a tool to close and retain clients it may over complicate things.

P.S.
Sorry if that was all over the place, lacking sleep at the moment )

WOW! That is a lot of value for 300 bucks! Do you outsource any of the work?

Since some seem to think you could sell the coupon for two hundred, I'm curious, how much do you think you COULD get per month if you sold just the mobile coupon service by itself? Assume 1000 subscribers on your own list, one offer per day, one offer per business per month. How about 5000 subscribers?

WOW! That is a lot of value for 300 bucks! Do you outsource any of the work?

Since some seem to think you could sell the coupon for two hundred, I'm curious, how much do you think you COULD get per month if you sold just the mobile coupon service by itself? Assume 1000 subscribers on your own list, one offer per day, one offer per business per month. How about 5000 subscribers?

I outsource the building of their mobile site in most cases. I also misspoke I do not "host their mobile sites" in most cases it goes on their sub domain. Also remember my $300 fee will naturally grow on its own as the size of there in house list grows.

I think with a list of 1000 subscribers you could easily charge 2 to 300 per client BUT because I only let clients send very strong offers I have to take that into account.

For example for restaurants we generally see an average redemption around 10-15 % on a bogo. So on 1000 coupons sent that is about 100-150 people coming in. At an average of 10$ a ticket that is $1000-$1500. Subtract 35% for cost of food and that leaves you at $650-$825. Now subtract your fee of $300 and that leave them at a ROI of $350 to $625 which is good on a $300 investment. Not to mention people seldom eat alone.

You could give 3 options when signing up - daily coupons, weekly coupons or every other week coupons with 3 different keywords. And at the site rather than 3-5 options group them together in 2 or 3's - whatever fits in 1 message to cut down on the number of texts. They can just ignore any coupons they aren't interested in.

First I'd like to say "great thread" - thank you! Secondly - I'd like to mention that another possible problem with creating "just" a mobile landing page is that there are still many cell users that have texting but don't necessarily have data plans and web ready phones - you would reduce the number of users that could use your service.

First I'd like to say "great thread" - thank you! Secondly - I'd like to mention that another possible problem with creating "just" a mobile landing page is that there are still many cell users that have texting but don't necessarily have data plans and web ready phones - you would reduce the number of users that could use your service.

I work for a big daily daily deal website in fact im the Director of Sales. I can tell you that if the offer is relavant and it is a great offer then people wont mind getting them once a day. I have trained countless reps on how to sell in the daily deal world and one thing i have found is that merchants usually come up with the worst offers.

It seems like your doing a great job, are you every going to get the subscribers email address or just keep it mobile?

I work for a big daily daily deal website in fact im the Director of Sales. I can tell you that if the offer is relavant and it is a great offer then people wont mind getting them once a day. I have trained countless reps on how to sell in the daily deal world and one thing i have found is that merchants usually come up with the worst offers.

It seems like your doing a great job, are you every going to get the subscribers email address or just keep it mobile?

Hey thanks man, I agree that having strong offer is super important. I stress it all the time. Honestly I have been fighting the urge to collect emails as well, just so that I stay focused but at some point I prob will.

First I would like to give a huge Thank You to the Warriors Forum. I have been coming here for years and years and have gained so much useful information. So I finally decided to try and give a little back.

Here is the basic idea of how I am making $ with Mobile Marketing.

1. I offer A in house SMS plan, helping my client to build there own opt in list to send coupons to thru the use of table tents, flyers, QR codes and of coarse incorporating this into there current marketing. They receive 2 keywords and 500 texts to start. (nothing new here I know)

2. I offer them a free mobile website when they sign up on a monthly plan.(month to month with no commitments) It is free as long as we are working together, if they decide to opt out then they can purchase it for 199.00. (Again nothing new)

Although I was able to sign up a few decent clients I found that there was one common objection as well there was one mistake I found myself making.

First the mistake I was making was getting to excited about the tech behind what I was offering. Talking way to much about HOW IT WORKS and not enough about HOW IT WILL BRING IN CUSTOMERS. I have read it many times on this forum and it is worth repeating. THEY DO NOT CARE HOW IT WORKS, JUST SHOW THEM THAT IT WORKS.

The most common objection I faced was getting businesses to commit to a monthly fee when it WILL and DOES take time to build up an in house opt in list. In other words getting them paying a monthly fee in hopes of it working down the road is tough. They need to see the results. I had the following two choices as I seen it.

1. Give them a free month to build up there list which I do not like to do, it requires a lot of work and time on my end, and if the client does not follow thru on there end it can all be time wasted.

2. My second choice was to show them IMMEDIATE RESULTS. But how can you do this. Here's what I did. I created what I call Napa Mobile Deals. Napa is just the town I am in. I created flyers, a small website, word of mouth, offered select businesses a free text coupon for letting me put up a flyer in there biz, I put up a banner on a busy street ( i had a friend that owned a biz on the main st. in town so that helped) basically I did what it took to build up my own opt in list. I put text "Napa" to 12345 to get great deals and discounts from your favorite local businesses on everything. I also decided to donate 20% of all profit to the local food bank. Although I did honestly do that to try and help the community, I have to admit it really helped when talking about the program to prospects. So NOW I have my own opt in list, on top of the services I provide I can also show them immediate results by sending there coupon out upon sign up and paying for there first month.

Sorry for such a long post, just thought it may help someone, if not, my bad ; )

P.S.
I am now looking to take the program to the next town over

P.P.S.
Another mistake i made was not researching the SMS provider I chose to use. I very recently had to switch to a new provider which is ending up to be quite a pain

I'm interested in your close process.
How do you automate the purchase of your services?

After that, how do you manage your clients?

I appreciate all this incredibly useful information!

I give a 30 free trial, that is the start of the close. I try to let results close for me. In other words if it is working great after 30 days free they are basically closed. If its just not working at all, then they are prob not a good fit for our services.

I do not automate the purchase at this point. I do offer reoccurring billing thru PayPal or cc if that is what you were asking. However to sign up for our services they will have to contact us.

I meet with clients once a month to to set up their campaign for the upcoming month and review the previous. For new clients I usually pop in once or twice a month on top of that to be sure that they are on track.

We always have the final say as to what the offer is as well as what time and frequency the coupons go out.

Just out of curiosity, the businesses never really own a list or keyword, right? You are building up the sms list, and you are sending out the daily deals?

So what number of businesses is the sweet spot? Like if you have 15 businesses, they are pretty much guaranteed two deals a month if you are doing one deal a day, right? So if you have 15 at $300 each, that's $4,500 gross to you, and then you will pay your own expenses, right?

Am I on track here? Sounds like a pretty cool plan, definitely a better value than groupon for the business, and greater return.

Just out of curiosity, the businesses never really own a list or keyword, right? You are building up the sms list, and you are sending out the daily deals?

So what number of businesses is the sweet spot? Like if you have 15 businesses, they are pretty much guaranteed two deals a month if you are doing one deal a day, right? So if you have 15 at $300 each, that's $4,500 gross to you, and then you will pay your own expenses, right?

Am I on track here? Sounds like a pretty cool plan, definitely a better value than groupon for the business, and greater return.

Yes that is basically the idea but they are also building there own in house list on their keyword as well. As i mentioned above as their list grows so will the fee I charge them.

I especially like the angle you took with "text Napa to..." and also the portion of proceeds to a local food bank; emphasizing both the mobile aspect as well as the almost contrasting close-to-home feel and community vibe that seems to be overtaking the 'scene' recently I think this hits on all levels. It's as tech as it is homegrown. So few people that you *aren't* reaching between those 2 groups. Thanks for the outline/ideas/share! Best of Luck looking Forward for You!

OK MoBuzz, can I ask you a little bit more, to see how I have this? I think this idea is fantastic, because it's a win-win for so many different people. I LOVE the idea about the food bank, because you're truly giving back - it's not some sort of angle you're playing.

1. Setting up the deal site
This is the part I think I've got - you build a local directory, basically, and drive traffic there like you've told us. On that site, people can text "LOCALDEALS" to 90210, or whatever the case is, with specific keyword. The LOCALDEALS keyword is one of many keywords, but it's basically the "master" keyword, and you have multiple businesses you send out a deal for throughout the month with this keyword.

2. Approaching the business
You talk to businesses, show them your deal site, and feature them on the site for free, and build them a mobile site for free. The monetization is in getting them to pay you a recurring fee, which includes a lot of things, but, the big part for now is SMS marketing. They get their own keyword, let's say, to keep it easy, someone can text BIZ1 to 90210 (the same shortcode you manage), someone can text BIZ2 to 90210, etc. Now, you also manage the SMS for the individual businesses as well as the big keyword, LOCALDEALS. So, you send out regular deals for BIZ1, BIZ2, etc, and they may pay an additional fee for that.

3, From the consumer's perspective
This is sort of where I get lost. An individual needs to text LOCALDEALS to 90210 to be on the master list, AND they need to text BIZ1 to 90210 to get on BIZ1's list to get their individual deals?

I'm not trying to shoot holes in your method, I'm trying to understand it so I can implement it, because I think this is a great idea. No need for me to reinvent the wheel, you know?

And a big hello to everyone. I am new here on Warrior Forum..but I am looking to learn about new concepts and/or ideas about mobile marketing. Mo..I was wondering if there is any other detail regarding your concept...I am newbie..so everyone please forgive me for being nieve...I am trying to learn and see if I could find a good concept to make money with. Mo....I do like your concept and would like to learn more of it and try it out here in Portland, OR. I look forward to your message and anyone else that would like to give me some suggestions on making money...I am in the learning mindset of which you would suggest on a concept...

I especially like the angle you took with "text Napa to..." and also the portion of proceeds to a local food bank; emphasizing both the mobile aspect as well as the almost contrasting close-to-home feel and community vibe that seems to be overtaking the 'scene' recently I think this hits on all levels. It's as tech as it is homegrown. So few people that you *aren't* reaching between those 2 groups. Thanks for the outline/ideas/share! Best of Luck looking Forward for You!

Thank you, and yes it really does help to capture the local feel.

Originally Posted by wise6eek

Though I’m new to this forum and my day start with your admiring information, I glad to read that how easily and in detail you explain this program, your personal experience are very helpful for me. Thanks for your information really useful I will look forward to try some!!

Thanks, good luck

Originally Posted by Daniel LaRusso

OK MoBuzz, can I ask you a little bit more, to see how I have this? I think this idea is fantastic, because it's a win-win for so many different people. I LOVE the idea about the food bank, because you're truly giving back - it's not some sort of angle you're playing.

1. Setting up the deal site
This is the part I think I've got - you build a local directory, basically, and drive traffic there like you've told us. On that site, people can text "LOCALDEALS" to 90210, or whatever the case is, with specific keyword. The LOCALDEALS keyword is one of many keywords, but it's basically the "master" keyword, and you have multiple businesses you send out a deal for throughout the month with this keyword.

2. Approaching the business
You talk to businesses, show them your deal site, and feature them on the site for free, and build them a mobile site for free. The monetization is in getting them to pay you a recurring fee, which includes a lot of things, but, the big part for now is SMS marketing. They get their own keyword, let's say, to keep it easy, someone can text BIZ1 to 90210 (the same shortcode you manage), someone can text BIZ2 to 90210, etc. Now, you also manage the SMS for the individual businesses as well as the big keyword, LOCALDEALS. So, you send out regular deals for BIZ1, BIZ2, etc, and they may pay an additional fee for that.

3, From the consumer's perspective
This is sort of where I get lost. An individual needs to text LOCALDEALS to 90210 to be on the master list, AND they need to text BIZ1 to 90210 to get on BIZ1's list to get their individual deals?

I'm not trying to shoot holes in your method, I'm trying to understand it so I can implement it, because I think this is a great idea. No need for me to reinvent the wheel, you know?

1. The site is only a couple pages, I do not really drive traffic their but we have got a few sign ups off of the site. It is not a directory at all, just tells people the details of the programs. I am actually launching a mobile directory soon called Napa Search, we will be handing out biz cards with a link and qr code to local B&Bs, hotels, ect and charging local businesses a fee for a listing.

2. That is the basic idea but we do not feature them on the site for mobile deals we just send to our list to show them how SMS works while helping them to build their in house list. We will soon feature them on Napa Search.

3. Yes people text the word "napa" to join our master list as you called it. People would text "pizza" to join xyz pizzas list. The two are marketed to the consumer completely separate. XYZ pizza would be building their in house list by using table tents, flyers and adding their custom keyword to their current advertising.

Originally Posted by salt2222

Hi MoBuzz,

And a big hello to everyone. I am new here on Warrior Forum..but I am looking to learn about new concepts and/or ideas about mobile marketing. Mo..I was wondering if there is any other detail regarding your concept...I am newbie..so everyone please forgive me for being nieve...I am trying to learn and see if I could find a good concept to make money with. Mo....I do like your concept and would like to learn more of it and try it out here in Portland, OR. I look forward to your message and anyone else that would like to give me some suggestions on making money...I am in the learning mindset of which you would suggest on a concept...

Thanks Everyone,
John (salt2222)

I have pretty much laid it all out for you in this thread, others have added some great ideas as well. Just choose a direction and take action. Let me know if I can help.

First & foremost, PROFUSE THANKS to MoBuzz and All Other Contributors for the wealth of Great Ideas. You all may have thrown me a lifeline.

UNFORTUNATELY, I don't see how the SMS Marketing Models discussed on this thread can be adapted to my 'special' local situaion.

I design, print, and distribute rack brochures for 'mom & pop' motels, canoe rental outfits, and other tourism businesses operating in the wilderness of the Ozark Mountains. But folks don't grab paper brochures like they used to...and my 'hard copy' business is steadily declining!

The challengewith SMS Mkting for toursim towns is that many local businesses depend mostly on toursits (from around the country) rather than local customers. I imagine developing a list of tourists is useless (since they won't be around to buy in to my SMS local discounts when they return home).

Developing a 'local list' seems 'iffy' too. There is barely enough local folks to make a decent list (permanent 'local' population of less than 2500 here). And local folks don't often patronize the many expensive 5-star restaurants or stay at the local motels. And making matters even worse, the nearest large city is 85 miles away (not exactly 'local' enough for developing a list of truly local prospects--or is it?).

What do I do?That is, how can I make SMS mkting work in my type of tourism-based local situation?

First & foremost, PROFUSE THANKS to MoBuzz and All Other Contributors for the wealth of Great Ideas. You all may have thrown me a lifeline.

UNFORTUNATELY, I don't see how the SMS Marketing Models discussed on this thread can be adapted to my 'special' local situaion.

I design, print, and distribute rack brochures for 'mom & pop' motels, canoe rental outfits, and other tourism businesses operating in the wilderness of the Ozark Mountains. But folks don't grab paper brochures like they used to...and my 'hard copy' business is steadily declining!

The challengewith SMS Mkting for toursim towns is that many local businesses depend mostly on toursits (from around the country) rather than local customers. I imagine developing a list of tourists is useless (since they won't be around to buy in to my SMS local discounts when they return home).

Developing a 'local list' seems 'iffy' too. There is barely enough local folks to make a decent list (permanent 'local' population of less than 2500 here). And local folks don't often patronize the many expensive 5-star restaurants or stay at the local motels. And making matters even worse, the nearest large city is 85 miles away (not exactly 'local' enough for developing a list of truly local prospects--or is it?).

What do I do?That is, how can I make SMS mkting work in my type of tourism-based local situation?

I would create a local mobile directory. Make some cheap business cards with a link and a QR code leading to your directory. Give stacks of these cards out to all the hotels ect that you deal with so that they can hand them out to there customers/clients ect. Charge local businesses that want that tourist traffic a fee to be listed. That is just off the top of my head. I will let you know if I think of any other ideas.

I would create a local mobile directory. Make some cheap business cards with a link and a QR code leading to your directory. Give stacks of these cards out to all the hotels ect that you deal with so that they can hand them out to there customers/clients ect. Charge local businesses that want that tourist traffic a fee to be listed. That is just off the top of my head. I will let you know if I think of any other ideas.

Thanks MoBuzz...excellent suggestions.

A local mobile directory had already occurred to me...but not in connection with SMS marketing. A couple of 'standard' website local directories already exist...but neither have implemented a true mobile site yet.

As far as passing out business cards with QRs linking to the mobile directory, that's a capital idea...your QR suggestion gives me something to start with...thanks very much....and after enough brainstorming, maybe I will discover some idea or angle for implementing an effective SMS marketing strategy in a tourism-based local economy.

I am not sure how I would price the service of distributing biz cards with QRs. That is a whole different gig from doing a SMS blast to a list of 2K or more consumers. Perhaps as an add-in service to my traditional distribution of 'paper' rack brochures.

A local mobile directory had already occurred to me...but not in connection with SMS marketing. A couple of 'standard' website local directories already exist...but neither have implemented a true mobile site yet.

As far as passing out business cards with QRs linking to the mobile directory, that's a capital idea...your QR suggestion gives me something to start with...thanks very much....and after enough brainstorming, maybe I will discover some idea or angle for implementing an effective SMS marketing strategy in a tourism-based local economy.

I am not sure how I would price the service of distributing biz cards with QRs. That is a whole different gig from doing a SMS blast to a list of 2K or more consumers. Perhaps as an add-in service to my traditional distribution of 'paper' rack brochures.

I would give the cards out free to the hotels ect that you deal with. They could hand them out to their guest. Then you charge each business 49-99 to be listed on the directory. Each paying client would get one page that included a tap to call, a map and a mobile coupon ect.

If you are getting tourist to the mobile directory thru the cards local businesses will want to be there.

I live in Napa Ca which is huge for tourist. I will be launching my local mobile directory next week as I think the best way to reach tourist is thru Hotels, B&Bs, visitor centers and such. Hopefully I am correct ; )

Hey MoBuzz...
I had sent you an email. I hope you got it..I am interested in learning more on how you started..that is my main scenario...is getting things "up and running" from the get go...so I wanted to learn from you on this...

how difficult was it to pitch to potential clients on your model? Did you first build up your list and then go to these potential clients and say "look at the list I am building up"...

Anyway...I am looking to learn...I hope you got my email. Thanks for a great post MoBuzz...

Hey MoBuzz..
I have a question...how did you pitch this to your "clients"...I was interested in what you said to convince them that what you could do for them would be a benefit for them. I am very interested in what you say...

I also was interested in finding out if you actually emailed prospective clients in Napa on what you could do for them via your mobile marketing service..or did you do strictly via visiting these prospective clients...

Im interested in what you did for sure...thanks for your due dilligence and posting this great idea to those of us that are interested in your concept...

Hey MoBuzz..
I have a question...how did you pitch this to your "clients"...I was interested in what you said to convince them that what you could do for them would be a benefit for them. I am very interested in what you say...

I also was interested in finding out if you actually emailed prospective clients in Napa on what you could do for them via your mobile marketing service..or did you do strictly via visiting these prospective clients...

Im interested in what you did for sure...thanks for your due dilligence and posting this great idea to those of us that are interested in your concept...

John (salt2222)

Honestly I do not spend alot of time "convincing" clients. I set them up with a free trial and put in the work to maximize chances for success. I do have the advantage of having dealt with most of the local businesses in the past.

Yes I do email businesses in Napa, I send them a link to a lead page offering a 30 day free trial, I am currently using will's script.

We, the Warriors on your Thread, owe you a huge debt of thanks for not only the generosity of your excellent advice but also for the time you have taken to help us. (Those are my personal feelings...and I am sure others here feel the same.)Sincerely, DigiMan

MoBuzz replied, "I live in Napa Ca which is huge for tourist. I will be launching my local mobile directory next week as I think the best way to reach tourist is thru Hotels, B&Bs, visitor centers and such. Hopefully I am correct"

MoBuzz, whether you realize it or not, you suggested mining an immense and virtually overlooked niche of 'local' marketing. I broadly speak of popular tourist destinations in rural, 'natural', or wilderness areas throughout the USA.

Rural Tourist Towns are probably the last great unexploited market for online services, especially mobile.

Each rural tourist town is a small goldmine for mobile marketers. Sure, one small rural tourist town may not seem like much of a market (at least not in comparison to a major city). BUT, In spite of a small local population, a popular tourist town--and its surrounding area--will have a significant number of 'mom & pop' tourist businesses, representing a big potential market for online services (hotels, motels, bed & breakfasts, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions, C&W music halls, outdoor outfitters, and etc). And if you dominate several tourist towns, your collection of small goldmines will add up to a substantial business. (That business model was once very successful and profitable for 'hard copy' marketers of tourist rack brochures.)

Most saliently, Rural Tourist Towns are barely served by marketers and providers of online and mobile services (at least from what I see in the Midwest). So, each rural tourist town is a small goldmine untapped by mobile marketers.

None of my clients have an online presence beyond a basic non-optimized Google Places listing and/ or a cookie-cutter Wix-type website. I'm not aware of any having a real mobile site.

In fact, an inadequate and/ or non-existent online and/ or mobile presence is fairly common for many local businesses in rural Midwestern tourist towns, including the most popular vacation destinations. Most still rely on rack brochures, newspaper ads, and the local chamber of commerce to promote their businesses. Aye, if one looked hard at Midwestern tourist towns, they would find a mammoth market of small and mid-size businesses whose online presence is often years behind the times.

There is virtually no local competition from marketers or providers of online or mobile services. There is truly a shortage of genuine web developers and designers in rural or wilderness resorts. In my tourist town, not a single local business or reputable freelancer builds sites or offers any online or mobile marketing services.

A sharp marketer might perceive a goldmine in my backyard waiting to be developed. That is true...but this raw goldmine is not easy pickings.

Rural Midwestern businesses have weak online marketing for various reasons.

We, the backwoods folks, are late in getting the technology--broadband & cell towers--that city people have enjoyed for nearly a decade. Broadband came to Eureka Springs and Branson just a few years ago. Outside of those two towns, it is either expensive satellite broadband or old-fashioned dial-up at maybe 42 kps. Until recently, the lack of internet AND CELLULAR infrastructure inhibited the growth of online services in rural Midwestern Tourist Towns. ...but times are a changing fast.

Making matters worse, tourist towns get hucksters who drift in for the season and move on afterwards. In the recent past, a notorious con artist rolled into town, claimed to be a web developer, razzled & dazzled a lot of my local clients, and charged them a grip of money for what amounted to lame Wix-type sites....then he split town.

The once-naive rural Midwest is a favorite target for telemarketers. Some of my clients have been sorely disappointed by telemarketer schemes promising 'free' websites...and then raking them over the coals on backend charges (such as, for hosting their crappy websites).

There is now a general distrust of salesmen pitching online services. Granted, I have a big edge as a well-known local business. But even so, I am confronted with a great deal of skepticism regarding the value of online marketing...thanks to their poor past experiences with such. Also, unfortunately, small towns can be narrow-minded with long memories; therefore, bad experiences can linger long, working against anyone attempting to break the 'ice' again.

Adding to the challenge is the fact that some 'bread & butter' mobile services, such as the SMS marketing discussed on 'our' Warrior thread, probably won't work in a rural setting. Thus, selling online services to rural businesses can be a somewhat different ballgame than what most Warriors are used to.

IN ESSENCE, the real problem is my clients' ignorance of what constitutes proper online development and marketing. Most think a Wix or GoDaddy cookiecutter website is sufficient...and nothing more is needed. Thus, naturally, they have been disappointed with the results of their online efforts (not realizing their online failure is a consequence of their own ineptitude). So, many are reluctant to embrace (i.e. BUY into) new online services.

On the bright side, as far as online & mobile marketing goes, my clients are acutely aware that 'hard copy' advertising is becoming less effective. Every year they need fewer rack brochures printed because each year less brochures are being grabbed from my brochure racks. They realize that something different is desperately needed soon.

IN AN OZARK WALNUT SHELL, there is a great potential market for mobile services in rural tourist areas. But the online marketer must scale a wall of distrust and ignorance. HOWEVER, if somebody can crack the first few walnut shells, word of mouth spreads like wildfire in small towns...and the first marketer who breaks those initial shells could not only pick up many many accounts but would also enjoy a monopoly for his online services (rural folks tend to stick with folks whom they trust, valuing trust over the lowest pricing).

I hope my above novella provided some useful info, serving as a meaningful contribution to this thread.

If any Warriors care to hear more, I will write Part 2, providing insights on how to market to small town folks, which are a different breed of cat from mainstream big city customers. (My info is based on my 29 years of marketing 'hard copy' to Tourist Town small businesses...and hopefully, some of my hard copy marketing experience has not been made obsolete by the Internet.)

MoBuzz replied, "I live in Napa Ca which is huge for tourist. I will be launching my local mobile directory next week as I think the best way to reach tourist is thru Hotels, B&Bs, visitor centers and such. Hopefully I am correct"

MoBuzz, whether you realize it or not, you suggested mining an immense and virtually overlooked niche of 'local' marketing. I broadly speak of popular tourist destinations in rural, 'natural', or wilderness areas throughout the USA.

Rural Tourist Towns are probably the last great unexploited market for online services, especially mobile.

Each rural tourist town is a small goldmine for mobile marketers. Sure, one small rural tourist town may not seem like much of a market (at least not in comparison to a major city). BUT, In spite of a small local population, a popular tourist town--and its surrounding area--will have a significant number of 'mom & pop' tourist businesses, representing a big potential market for online services (hotels, motels, bed & breakfasts, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions, C&W music halls, outdoor outfitters, and etc). And if you dominate several tourist towns, your collection of small goldmines will add up to a substantial business. (That business model was once very successful and profitable for 'hard copy' marketers of tourist rack brochures.)

Most saliently, Rural Tourist Towns are barely served by marketers and providers of online and mobile services (at least from what I see in the Midwest). So, each rural tourist town is a small goldmine untapped by mobile marketers.

None of my clients have an online presence beyond a basic non-optimized Google Places listing and/ or a cookie-cutter Wix-type website. I'm not aware of any having a real mobile site.

In fact, an inadequate and/ or non-existent online and/ or mobile presence is fairly common for many local businesses in rural Midwestern tourist towns, including the most popular vacation destinations. Most still rely on rack brochures, newspaper ads, and the local chamber of commerce to promote their businesses. Aye, if one looked hard at Midwestern tourist towns, they would find a mammoth market of small and mid-size businesses whose online presence is often years behind the times.

There is virtually no local competition from marketers or providers of online or mobile services. There is truly a shortage of genuine web developers and designers in rural or wilderness resorts. In my tourist town, not a single local business or reputable freelancer builds sites or offers any online or mobile marketing services.

A sharp marketer might perceive a goldmine in my backyard waiting to be developed. That is true...but this raw goldmine is not easy pickings.

Rural Midwestern businesses have weak online marketing for various reasons.

We, the backwoods folks, are late in getting the technology--broadband & cell towers--that city people have enjoyed for nearly a decade. Broadband came to Eureka Springs and Branson just a few years ago. Outside of those two towns, it is either expensive satellite broadband or old-fashioned dial-up at maybe 42 kps. Until recently, the lack of internet AND CELLULAR infrastructure inhibited the growth of online services in rural Midwestern Tourist Towns. ...but times are a changing fast.

Making matters worse, tourist towns get hucksters who drift in for the season and move on afterwards. In the recent past, a notorious con artist rolled into town, claimed to be a web developer, razzled & dazzled a lot of my local clients, and charged them a grip of money for what amounted to lame Wix-type sites....then he split town.

The once-naive rural Midwest is a favorite target for telemarketers. Some of my clients have been sorely disappointed by telemarketer schemes promising 'free' websites...and then raking them over the coals on backend charges (such as, for hosting their crappy websites).

There is now a general distrust of salesmen pitching online services. Granted, I have a big edge as a well-known local business. But even so, I am confronted with a great deal of skepticism regarding the value of online marketing...thanks to their poor past experiences with such. Also, unfortunately, small towns can be narrow-minded with long memories; therefore, bad experiences can linger long, working against anyone attempting to break the 'ice' again.

Adding to the challenge is the fact that some 'bread & butter' mobile services, such as the SMS marketing discussed on 'our' Warrior thread, probably won't work in a rural setting. Thus, selling online services to rural businesses can be a somewhat different ballgame than what most Warriors are used to.

IN ESSENCE, the real problem is my clients' ignorance of what constitutes proper online development and marketing. Most think a Wix or GoDaddy cookiecutter website is sufficient...and nothing more is needed. Thus, naturally, they have been disappointed with the results of their online efforts (not realizing their online failure is a consequence of their own ineptitude). So, many are reluctant to embrace (i.e. BUY into) new online services.

On the bright side, as far as online & mobile marketing goes, my clients are acutely aware that 'hard copy' advertising is becoming less effective. Every year they need fewer rack brochures printed because each year less brochures are being grabbed from my brochure racks. They realize that something different is desperately needed soon.

IN AN OZARK WALNUT SHELL, there is a great potential market for mobile services in rural tourist areas. But the online marketer must scale a wall of distrust and ignorance. HOWEVER, if somebody can crack the first few walnut shells, word of mouth spreads like wildfire in small towns...and the first marketer who breaks those initial shells could not only pick up many many accounts but would also enjoy a monopoly for his online services (rural folks tend to stick with folks whom they trust, valuing trust over the lowest pricing).

I hope my above novella provided some useful info, serving as a meaningful contribution to this thread.

If any Warriors care to hear more, I will write Part 2, providing insights on how to market to small town folks, which are a different breed of cat from mainstream big city customers. (My info is based on my 29 years of marketing 'hard copy' to Tourist Town small businesses...and hopefully, some of my hard copy marketing experience has not been made obsolete by the Internet.)

Wishing Great Success to All,
DigiMan

Thanks for the great insight DigMan. Here in Napa much of the tourist destinations are "up Valley" where the wineries are located. I would love to hear some of your strategies on reaching out to the more rural folks.

Thanks for the great insight DigMan. Here in Napa much of the tourist destinations are "up Valley" where the wineries are located. I would love to hear some of your strategies on reaching out to the more rural folks.

The 'MoBuzz' persona, as presented on this thread, would go over real well with rural folks. You've exhibited old-fashioned virtues that would open doors in Small Town America.

Let me describe you thru the eyes of a rural Midwestern business owner--how he/ she would see you...and thereby judge you.

You are genuinely helpful without asking for anything. You get high marks for common courtesy and good manners. You are patient; you respond nicely to tenderfoot questions without getting impatient. You speak plainly...and don't talk down to regular folks in spite of your superior knowledge of highfaluting technical stuff. You don't make your audience feel 'dumb' (and that's a real sensitive point with country folk when dealing with city folk).

You 'inform' rather than 'hype'. That would make you real popular in the Ozarks. To be sure, an educational seminar about your 'technology' that concludes with a soft but pointed sales pitch...that is probably the MOST effective sales strategy for a newoutsider. [In a small town, presenting an 'educational' sales pitch--"let me explain why my tractor works better than your current one or a new Ford tractor"--produces much better results than a hype pitch promising 'HUGE Profits if you ACT IMMEDIATELY because tomorrow my deal is gone", because country folk don't like to be rushed or pressured.)

The MoBuzz demeanor and disposition displayed here gives the impression that you care about people...and that inspires my 'small town' trust...and motivates me to think, 'I'd like to do business with this good guy rather than that slick salesman offering me the moon for the lowest prices'...thus, you sold me on your services without ever pitching anything...that is great Small Town salesmanship!

In an acorn shell, just present yourself as the MoBuzz of this thread...present yourself FIRST as a courteous, helpful, informative online expert who truly cares about helping my business to succeed...then after I sign your contract, be there to help me when I have a snag with your technology, rather than sending me to India. Give small town folks all that...and you will end up with the town eating out of your hand.

DISCLAIMER: Does 'rural' Napa truly reflect typical 'small town' America? The property value of a dozen or so pf your vineyards probably could buy half my small town. So do the local businesses of Napa wine country really fit the profile of those in most Rural Toursit Towns? I bet those Napa business owners are more worldly and tech-savvy than the average Midwestern rural local business. So, in truth, I can't speak authoritatively about your unique region.

The 'MoBuzz' persona, as presented on this thread, would go over real well with rural folks. You've exhibited old-fashioned virtues that would open doors in Small Town America.

Let me describe you thru the eyes of a rural Midwestern business owner--how he/ she would see you...and thereby judge you.

You are genuinely helpful without asking for anything. You get high marks for common courtesy and good manners. You are patient; you respond nicely to tenderfoot questions without getting impatient. You speak plainly...and don't talk down to regular folks in spite of your superior knowledge of highfaluting technical stuff. You don't make your audience feel 'dumb' (and that's a real sensitive point with country folk when dealing with city folk).

You 'inform' rather than 'hype'. That would make you real popular in the Ozarks. To be sure, an educational seminar about your 'technology' that concludes with a soft but pointed sales pitch...that is probably the MOST effective sales strategy for a newoutsider. [In a small town, presenting an 'educational' sales pitch--"let me explain why my tractor works better than your current one or a new Ford tractor"--produces much better results than a hype pitch promising 'HUGE Profits if you ACT IMMEDIATELY because tomorrow my deal is gone", because country folk don't like to be rushed or pressured.)

The MoBuzz demeanor and disposition displayed here gives the impression that you care about people...and that inspires my 'small town' trust...and motivates me to think, 'I'd like to do business with this good guy rather than that slick salesman offering me the moon for the lowest prices'...thus, you sold me on your services without ever pitching anything...that is great Small Town salesmanship!

In an acorn shell, just present yourself as the MoBuzz of this thread...present yourself FIRST as a courteous, helpful, informative online expert who truly cares about helping my business to succeed...then after I sign your contract, be there to help me when I have a snag with your technology, rather than sending me to India. Give small town folks all that...and you will end up with the town eating out of your hand.

DISCLAIMER: Does 'rural' Napa truly reflect typical 'small town' America? The property value of a dozen or so pf your vineyards probably could buy half my small town. So do the local businesses of Napa wine country really fit the profile of those in most Rural Toursit Towns? I bet those Napa business owners are more worldly and tech-savvy than the average Midwestern rural local business. So, in truth, I can't speak authoritatively about your unique region.

WOW Thanks for all the kind words DigMan, and of coarse all of the useful information.

In the "city" of Napa business owners are pretty savvy, as well are the wineries up valley. BUT the small towns where they are located are full of mom & pop businesses. If we can partner with them and help them to grab a bigger piece of the tourism pie, I think everyone will be happy in the end.

WOW Thanks for all the kind words DigMan, and of coarse all of the useful information.

In the "city" of Napa business owners are pretty savvy, as well are the wineries up valley. BUT the small towns where they are located are full of mom & pop businesses. If we can partner with them and help them to grab a bigger piece of the tourism pie, I think everyone will be happy in the end.

MoBuzz...don't forget my suggestion about using brochure racks (for rack cards / rack brochures) as a means to distribute your QR Code Business Cards. It would be worth talking with whoever runs the local 'rack card' delivery service about using a slot or two on his racks.

MoBuzz...don't forget my suggestion about using brochure racks (for rack cards / rack brochures) as a means to distribute your QR Code Business Cards. It would be worth talking with whoever runs the local 'rack card' delivery service about using a slot or two on his racks.

Oh I did not forget : ) This is def something that I will be sure to do. GREAT IDEA and thank you

Ideally the hotel will hand my card to their gust when they hand them their key card.

Oh I did not forget : ) This is def something that I will be sure to do. GREAT IDEA and thank you

Ideally the hotel will hand my card to their gust when they hand them their key card.

In a perfect world anyway

A few posts back, you will find one entitled, "Reply to MoBuzz -- Some Ideas of My Own". Therein & thereat is to be found the sketch of my own battle plan. But before I charge off on my Quest for the Holy Online Grail, I would deeply appreciate your opinion about my plan, especially pointing out any flaws or naive notions.

BY THE BY, based on long experience, your plan of getting front desk clerks to pass out QR Cards is dubious at best (unless you gave Management an incentive to make it so...but even then, good luck). Front desks get hectic. Hotel guests tend to arrive in spurts. The clerks also have to answer the phone...while serving those standing in front of them. Adding another chore to their burden, especially a non-job related one, is likely to be mostly 'overlooked'.

You might have better luck trying to get your QR Cards on the maid cart...and let them place your QR Cards in the rooms (if Management gives their blessing).

'Location Owners' can be a dicey bunch to deal with, especially when you are hoping they will distribute your 'paper' for no charge. (By the way, 'Location Owner' is the traditional 'hard copy' jargon.)

You won't get much play if they perceive your 'work' might impose work on THEIR employees whom THEY pay. But many do understand that distributing your 'hard copy' promoting their fellow local businesses serves the greater local economic good....that is, they can be understanding so long as it doesn't cost them anything.

In some areas, location owners expect to get paid for allowing you to place your paper in their establishment. In Eureka Springs, I don't get charged. In Branson, I do.

WORSE YET, be careful not to step on pre-existing arrangements that Location Owners may have with local 'hard copy' dinosaurs...or your paper may wind up in a garbage can. (That's what happens to upstart 'claim jumpers' who try to impose their shyte on MY locations. Get the pix, Bud?) Step carefully...because if it comes down to you the new Outsider and Billy Bub the Local Dinosaur, I bet you lose.

You would be well advised to deal with the Local Dinosaur, especially in a true Small Town setting. The Dinosaur already has the juice with your essential Location Owners.

By the way, I am laughing my azz off to see an online sharpie depend on 'paper' to pull off his online game plan.

Well, damn your eyes, MoBuzz, you drew me into another post when I swore I was leaving...so you truly owe me what I asked from the 'get' herein.

Oh say, MoBuzz, are you any good at hammering together websites & mobisites from scratch? If so, what do you think about taking the Midwest by storm? If that might pop your cork, let's do lunch via PM or Skype (or whatever else you online folks prefer).

This is not Part 2 of my Insights post...but rather a reply to your last suggestions.

You are about to do in Napa what I hope to accomplish in the Ozarks, which is to introduce and sell mobile marketing services in a Tourist Town. So, I thought I'd share a few ideas from my end, presenting my notions for cracking the Small Tourist Town walnut shell.

I am not sure if your concept for a local mobile directory is quite what I envision. My notion of a local directory site consists of several key components, which includes mobile sites.

Step 1: 'Business Category' Directory Website

My thought is to build a 'standard' website structured as a directory site for specific business categories. For instance, my nine bed & breakfast clients would get their own local directory site. The home page would feature an image slider showing each client. Followed by a promotional article extolling the virtues of the local B&Bs in general. Then, finally, a few 'featured business' spots on the home page.

THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT of the 'main' directory website would be giving each client a unique page comprised of a business listing in the style of Google Places (or maybe simply 'import' their Google Places' listing page into my directory site to serve as my site's business listing for them...because I have seen that done on another site...but how that was done, I don't know yet).

[You might think that a directory website with business listing pages is overkill and even unnecessary in light of mobile sites. You see, I have a very specific reason, involving a new & original online service.The client's business listing page, as well as his mobile site, would deliver the new service. This 'new' service is very 'specific' to rural tourism: it would not be relevant for a 'big city' local business. Thus, it is not something that those in mainstream online marketing have probably seen on their radar (as far as I can tell). I dare say it is the 'online' reinvention of the primary 'hard copy' marketing strategy for small tourist towns. If I didn't live where I do and work in the business that I am in (for last 29 years), my idea would never have occurred to me. Anyway, that's why the directory website is necessary. Perhaps I will send a PM sharing a few details.)

STEP 2: Client Mobile Sites

Each client in a particular directory site would get their own 'basic' mobile site (ostensibly, for 'FREE'). However, the clients' mobile sites must be 'tied to' the main directory site. They wouldn't be allowed to 'attach' the 'free' mobisite to their own main website. My Grand Objective requires me to maintain complete control of content.

The clients' mobile site would serve two main purposes: One, it would do what you already imagined, which is to act as a place for the QR business cards to take a mobile consumer for a discount coupon. And, two, it would act as the 'vehicle' to deliver the new service (hinted at above).

As far as distribution of QR Business Cards goes, I have 426 old-fashioned 'hard copy' brochure racks located in places where tourists frequent. So, I figure that I can attach something to my brochure racks displaying the QR Business Cards. Distribution of the biz cards is the easy part.

(By the by, MoBuzz...think about brochure racks used for rack brochures. Historically, you find brochure racks in virtually every motel-hotel lobby, every restaurant, and almost everywhere else in every tourist town. Surely, you got one or two old hard copy dinosaurs, like me, in Napa. So, work a deal with a dinosaur to use his brochure racks for QR Card distribution...plus that would save you lots of time by not having to individually deal with many 'location' owners...your local dinosaur already has permission to place brochures at their locations....cut a deal with the dinosaur...and then just walk into 'locations', place your cards on his racks, and go. BY THE BY AGAIN, you would be naïve to depend on hotel employees, restaurant cashiers, and etc to pass out your QR cards--good in theory but rarely works out in reality.)

Step 3: A Mobile Site for the 'Category' Directory Website

The Category Directory Website would have a 'redirect-type' mobile site 'attached' to it (because I don't think a 'responsive' site will do what I want). The Directory MobiSite's home page would simply list each client as a 'button'. Click the button and go to the client's mobile site. Of course, I would jazz up the Directory MobiSite a bit with a nice image and some promo copywriting. But the object is to redirect consumers to a client's mobisite.

Step 4: A 'City Info' Directory Website (with Mobile Site)

After a few 'business category' directory sites are built, a 'general' city info / directory website might tie everything together nicely. I can present articles about the 'subject' tourist town, announce upcoming special events, feature 'premium' local businesses, and etc. BUT most importantly, the general directory site would 'prominently' direct viewers to the 'business category' directory sites. (Also, I am thinking that the main directory website should be 'responsive', if possible, thereby taking care of the mobile site with 'one stone'.)

Step 5: Where is the Beef?

How do I 'monetize'? The Clients' MobiSites is where I foresee the big bucks will come.

Well, again, the basic mobile site is 'free'. Also, the mobi site is not leased to them either (although I might tag them for 'hosting'). BUT I would charge them dearly for the 'add-on' services, such as the QR Business Cards and my new 'top secret' service.

On the 'category' directory sites, maybe I could sell 'featured' listings on the home page. Also, I could charge for 'enhanced' business listings (for their 'independent' listing page on my directory site). PLUS, I could use this angle to offer the service of 'optimizing' their Google Places listings.

On the main directory site, maybe I can sell local ads....and 'featured' business spots.

Custom content creation for their business listing and mobisites might be another revenue stream.

In Conclusion...AM I NUTS?

An online pundit told me that my 'site complex' described above is unnecessarily complicated; that I can achieve all my objectives with less 'site structure'.

My staff has debated with me over the need for the 'category' directory sites. 'Overkill' and 'too much complexity', they clamor! 'Just do one general 'city info' directory site!' BUT all my clients fit into 7 nice neat categories. And methinks that if all clients were placed on a single general directory site, it would become a cluttered unwieldy site, thereby minimizing each client's site exposure. I don't know...maybe my online inexperience has me thinking naively and wrongly (but fu*k it, I am the boss...and I will do it my way until someone gives me a good reason not to).

On the other hand, my clients are excited about the prospect of the 'category' directory sites with attached 'client' mobisites. And they are dying to see if I can adapt their favorite 'hard copy' marketing method into a new online service (definitely doable for someone with web dev skills, which is not me). Also, they like the idea of a truly professional 'city info' directory site (which my Tourist Town doesn't really have...for a laugh, go to www.eurekasprings.com to see my Small Town's OFFICIAL city website!)

At this juncture, I am torn. My clients love my overall grand scheme. But the naysayers might be right about 'too complex'...because after 4 months of long nights and weekends studying code, I still have not got anything off the ground: I can't get the necessary customizations to my WordPress templates to function correctly or totally look right. Sigh!

Well, MoBuzz, I hope I shared a little something of value with you. And I desperately invite you to blow holes in my Grand Concept (for a dinosaur's own good).

This is not Part 2 of my Insights post...but rather a reply to your last suggestions.

You are about to do in Napa what I hope to accomplish in the Ozarks, which is to introduce and sell mobile marketing services in a Tourist Town. So, I thought I'd share a few ideas from my end, presenting my notions for cracking the Small Tourist Town walnut shell.

I am not sure if your concept for a local mobile directory is quite what I envision. My notion of a local directory site consists of several key components, which includes mobile sites.

Step 1: ‘Business Category’ Directory Website

My thought is to build a ‘standard’ website structured as a directory site for specific business categories. For instance, my nine bed & breakfast clients would get their own local directory site. The home page would feature an image slider showing each client. Followed by a promotional article extolling the virtues of the local B&Bs in general. Then, finally, a few ‘featured business’ spots on the home page.

THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT of the ‘main’ directory website would be giving each client a unique page comprised of a business listing in the style of Google Places (or maybe simply ‘import’ their Google Places’ listing page into my directory site to serve as my site’s business listing for them…because I have seen that done on another site…but how that was done, I don’t know yet).

[You might think that a directory website with business listing pages is overkill and even unnecessary in light of mobile sites. You see, I have a very specific reason, involving a new & original online service.The client’s business listing page, as well as his mobile site, would deliver the new service. This ‘new’ service is very ‘specific’ to rural tourism: it would not be relevant for a ‘big city’ local business. Thus, it is not something that those in mainstream online marketing have probably seen on their radar (as far as I can tell). I dare say it is the ‘online’ reinvention of the primary ‘hard copy’ marketing strategy for small tourist towns. If I didn’t live where I do and work in the business that I am in (for last 29 years), my idea would never have occurred to me. Anyway, that’s why the directory website is necessary. Perhaps I will send a PM sharing a few details.)

STEP 2: Client Mobile Sites

Each client in a particular directory site would get their own ‘basic’ mobile site (ostensibly, for ‘FREE’). However, the clients’ mobile sites must be ‘tied to’ the main directory site. They wouldn’t be allowed to ‘attach’ the ‘free’ mobisite to their own main website. My Grand Objective requires me to maintain complete control of content.

The clients’ mobile site would serve two main purposes: One, it would do what you already imagined, which is to act as a place for the QR business cards to take a mobile consumer for a discount coupon. And, two, it would act as the ‘vehicle’ to deliver the new service (hinted at above).

As far as distribution of QR Business Cards goes, I have 426 old-fashioned ‘hard copy’ brochure racks located in places where tourists frequent. So, I figure that I can attach something to my brochure racks displaying the QR Business Cards. Distribution of the biz cards is the easy part.

(By the by, MoBuzz…think about brochure racks used for rack brochures. Historically, you find brochure racks in virtually every motel-hotel lobby, every restaurant, and almost everywhere else in every tourist town. Surely, you got one or two old hard copy dinosaurs, like me, in Napa. So, work a deal with a dinosaur to use his brochure racks for QR Card distribution...plus that would save you lots of time by not having to individually deal with many ‘location’ owners…your local dinosaur already has permission to place brochures at their locations….cut a deal with the dinosaur…and then just walk into ‘locations’, place your cards on his racks, and go. BY THE BY AGAIN, you would be naïve to depend on hotel employees, restaurant cashiers, and etc to pass out your QR cards—good in theory but rarely works out in reality.)

Step 3: A Mobile Site for the ‘Category’ Directory Website

The Category Directory Website would have a ‘redirect-type’ mobile site ‘attached’ to it (because I don’t think a ‘responsive’ site will do what I want). The Directory MobiSite’s home page would simply list each client as a ‘button’. Click the button and go to the client’s mobile site. Of course, I would jazz up the Directory MobiSite a bit with a nice image and some promo copywriting. But the object is to redirect consumers to a client’s mobisite.

Step 4: A ‘City Info’ Directory Website (with Mobile Site)

After a few ‘business category’ directory sites are built, a ‘general’ city info / directory website might tie everything together nicely. I can present articles about the ‘subject’ tourist town, announce upcoming special events, feature ‘premium’ local businesses, and etc. BUT most importantly, the general directory site would ‘prominently’ direct viewers to the ‘business category’ directory sites. (Also, I am thinking that the main directory website should be ‘responsive’, if possible, thereby taking care of the mobile site with ‘one stone’.)

Step 5: Where is the Beef?

How do I ‘monetize’? The Clients’ MobiSites is where I foresee the big bucks will come.

Well, again, the basic mobile site is ‘free’. Also, the mobi site is not leased to them either (although I might tag them for ‘hosting’). BUT I would charge them dearly for the 'add-on' services, such as the QR Business Cards and my new ‘top secret’ service.

On the ‘category’ directory sites, maybe I could sell ‘featured’ listings on the home page. Also, I could charge for ‘enhanced’ business listings (for their ‘independent’ listing page on my directory site). PLUS, I could use this angle to offer the service of ‘optimizing’ their Google Places listings.

On the main directory site, maybe I can sell local ads….and ‘featured’ business spots.

Custom content creation for their business listing and mobisites might be another revenue stream.

In Conclusion...AM I NUTS?

An online pundit told me that my ‘site complex’ described above is unnecessarily complicated; that I can achieve all my objectives with less ‘site structure’.

My staff has debated with me over the need for the ‘category’ directory sites. ‘Overkill’ and ‘too much complexity’, they clamor! ‘Just do one general ‘city info’ directory site!’ BUT all my clients fit into 7 nice neat categories. And methinks that if all clients were placed on a single general directory site, it would become a cluttered unwieldy site, thereby minimizing each client’s site exposure. I don’t know…maybe my online inexperience has me thinking naively and wrongly (but fu*k it, I am the boss…and I will do it my way until someone gives me a good reason not to).

On the other hand, my clients are excited about the prospect of the ‘category’ directory sites with attached ‘client’ mobisites. And they are dying to see if I can adapt their favorite ‘hard copy’ marketing method into a new online service (definitely doable for someone with web dev skills, which is not me). Also, they like the idea of a truly professional ‘city info’ directory site (which my Tourist Town doesn’t really have…for a laugh, go to www.eurekasprings.com to see my Small Town’s OFFICIAL city website!)

At this juncture, I am torn. My clients love my overall grand scheme. But the naysayers might be right about ‘too complex’…because after 4 months of long nights and weekends studying code, I still have not got anything off the ground: I can’t get the necessary customizations to my WordPress templates to function correctly or totally look right. Sigh!

Well, MoBuzz, I hope I shared a little something of value with you. And I desperately invite you to blow holes in my Grand Concept (for a dinosaur’s own good).

Best wishes,DigiMan (or so I hope to become)

Hey DigiMan, sorry for the late reply. In all honestly is sounds a little overly complex to me. But you are a smart guy and I may be missing something reading this at 2 am lol.

I so WISH I had those "racks" you talk about that target tourist.

I have just launched my mobile directory. IF ONLY I HAD RACKS ALL OVER THE CITY TO PROMOTE IT. I will def take your advice and look for the dinosaur : )

My advice is this... Set up a mobile directory. Pre populate it with 30 or so businesses. I would say 2 in each category. Put QR codes in all your racks and distribute to B&Bs ect. Once you can show traffic you should have no prob collecting $49 per client that is listed. Then you can up sell with menu pages, sms ect ect ect

Shoot me an email if you wish to peek at my mobile directory for ideas : )

Hey MoBuzz, great thread and congratulations on the success of your business.

I think that when it comes to any offline business, the key to getting started is picking one idea, creating a plan and sticking to it. There are so many fantastic ideas on this forum, you could quite easily find yourself lost and overwhelmed. To those that are just starting out in mobile marketing and are reading this thread, take action on MoBuzz's idea and don't come back to the Warrior Fourm until you have got it off the ground and have paying clients!!! :-)

And definitely take a look at what WillR has to offer, he's got some awesome products that can add a lot of value to your offerings (no affiliation what so ever).

I have a couple of questions tho Mo, I love the 30 day free trial idea. If you're truly committed to making it work for businesses, I see very few turning down a monthly subscription after 30 days is up, as you said. However, with the 30 day free trial are you paying for:

1) The keyword for the business (or do you get them free with your service provider?)

2) The auto-response for opt ins (or do you leave out the auto-responder for the free trial

3) The material and printing costs for the table cards, beer mats, card holders etc.. for each individual business in order to build their own list. If not, how do you go about getting them to build their own list?

(Thinking out loud) I suppose the more that you do for them in terms of printed materials, the more likely they are to want to keep at it (speculating to accumulate), but still interesting to know what you include.

Or do you simply offer them the bare essentials and then say they can have all of these extra's with the monthly subscription?

Also, do you tie your clients in to a certain amount of time (3 months, 6 months etc)

By the way, an extra income stream that I haven't seen mentioned so far is charging extra for texts to be sent out on people's birthdays. With my service provider, you can choose the date you want texts to be sent to individual numbers. So for a restaurant, for example, they could send out a text four weeks before someone's birthday to say "Come down to RESTAURANT for your Birthday Celebrations with at least 8 guests and we'll chuck in 6 bottles of wine and a birthday cake!!". You could then charge yuor client $xx.xx for xxx birthday texts sent (work it on an hourly basis, number of texts etc)

To get birthdates, it is simple. Create a service review form which is given to customers after they're meal which gives them the chance to "win a free meal". You can ask for any information you want, including birthdates and 99% of people will happily fill it in. Your client then just keeps a spreadsheet and fills it in for each card, name, bday and phone number. If you create a template, you can use the same one for all businesses, just addd their logo/business name each time.

I think that when it comes to any offline business, the key to getting started is picking one idea, creating a plan and sticking to it. There are so many fantastic ideas on this forum, you could quite easily find yourself lost and overwhelmed. To those that are just starting out in mobile marketing and are reading this thread, take action on MoBuzz's idea and don't come back to the Warrior Fourm until you have got it off the ground and have paying clients!!! :-)

Benjamin, the opening paragraph of your post probably offers the best advice on this thread to an online newcomer. After a nice comfortable cozy routine of producing hard copy for over 2 decades, I find trying to learn how to develop an online business is difficult due to the overwhelming amount of info out there. No sooner than I think I found my direction then I discover some info that seems very important...but invariably sidetracks from my ultimate objective.

I believe I will print out your paragraph and it place under the glass of my 'real' desktop to serve as constant reminder.

Benjamin, the opening paragraph of your post probably offers the best advice on this thread to an online newcomer. After a nice comfortable cozy routine of producing hard copy for over 2 decades, I find trying to learn how to develop an online business is difficult due to the overwhelming amount of info out there. No sooner than I think I found my direction then I discover some info that seems very important...but invariably sidetracks from my ultimate objective.

I believe I will print out your paragraph and it place under the glass of my 'real' desktop to serve as constant reminder.

Thanks, Ben, for your insight.

No probs Digiman, glad I could provide something of use for all the great info and time you've invested into the thread.

I've been one of the biggst culprits myself. I get an idea, start the ball rolling and then think of something else. If I had just stuck to my first idea and worked hard at it, i'd have been going for years and probably be making some good money!! It's definitely all about discipline and frame of mind.

The businessman that gets an idea and launches is going to make ten times more money than the businessman that learns and learns. Don't get me wrong, learning is incredibly important but it is useless if you are not going to put your knowledge into action!!

"The businessman who gets an idea and launches is going to make ten times more money than the businessman that learns and learns. Don't get me wrong, learning is incredibly important but it is useless if you are not going to put your knowledge into action!!"

Your words are the best advice on this thread. And your new advice strikes me to the heart like a dart dead on the bulls'eye.

For the past 10 years, I stuck my head in the sand and thought 'online is nice but hard copy is forever.' My ledger books prove I was wrong. So I come to online as a complete novice, totally overwhelmed by an unfathomable amount of ideas and info.

There is too many areas to study or know everything. You made realize that I must specialize...and end my long learning mode. You are so damn right...I have learned a great deal over the past year...but it has not earned me one red cent yet. So, to use a crude expression, it is time for me to either 'shyte or get off the pot'. Thanks for the cold splash of reality.

To get birthdates, it is simple. Create a service review form which is given to customers after they're meal which gives them the chance to "win a free meal". You can ask for any information you want, including birthdates and 99% of people will happily fill it in. Your client then just keeps a spreadsheet and fills it in for each card, name, bday and phone number. If you create a template, you can use the same one for all businesses, just addd their logo/business name each time.

My clients get their customers' birthdays and other personal info by offering a big birthday-only discount...a Birthday Club, so to speak. Works like a charm with locals...but a meaningless technique with tourist customers.

Hey MoBuzz, great thread and congratulations on the success of your business.

I think that when it comes to any offline business, the key to getting started is picking one idea, creating a plan and sticking to it. There are so many fantastic ideas on this forum, you could quite easily find yourself lost and overwhelmed. To those that are just starting out in mobile marketing and are reading this thread, take action on MoBuzz's idea and don't come back to the Warrior Fourm until you have got it off the ground and have paying clients!!! :-)

Best advice on this thread. Thanks

And definitely take a look at what WillR has to offer, he's got some awesome products that can add a lot of value to your offerings (no affiliation what so ever).

I have a couple of questions tho Mo, I love the 30 day free trial idea. If you're truly committed to making it work for businesses, I see very few turning down a monthly subscription after 30 days is up, as you said. However, with the 30 day free trial are you paying for:

1) The keyword for the business (or do you get them free with your service provider?)

I pay 4$ a month for each free account that I set up for a business. That is 25 accounts for $100. If I even sign 1 client out of the 25 it pays for them all. Remember during the first 30 days they are not sending out many text, they are building their list. I will usually send to their list for the first time 4 or 5 days before the trial is up. If they get decent results they are usually ready to go.

2) The auto-response for opt ins (or do you leave out the auto-responder for the free trial

Yes I pay for the text that are used for this. The more it cost me for their opt in auto-response, the more likely they will continue working with us. After all the more opt ins they get the happier they are.

3) The material and printing costs for the table cards, beer mats, card holders etc.. for each individual business in order to build their own list. If not, how do you go about getting them to build their own list?

Yep... I pay for this too.(during the trial period) I know it sounds crazy but when you do the math it is a no brainer.

(Thinking out loud) I suppose the more that you do for them in terms of printed materials, the more likely they are to want to keep at it (speculating to accumulate), but still interesting to know what you include.

Or do you simply offer them the bare essentials and then say they can have all of these extra's with the monthly subscription?
Every client is unique. I try to do whatever each business needs to be successful. I do not give free trials to just any business. If it is a good fit and I feel like we could help each other grow, then I will give them everything in my toolbox.

Also, do you tie your clients in to a certain amount of time (3 months, 6 months etc)

I never ask any client for more than a month to month agreement. If I am doing my job then they are not going anywhere. If it is just not working for them it is best for both to move on anyway.

By the way, an extra income stream that I haven't seen mentioned so far is charging extra for texts to be sent out on people's birthdays. With my service provider, you can choose the date you want texts to be sent to individual numbers. So for a restaurant, for example, they could send out a text four weeks before someone's birthday to say "Come down to RESTAURANT for your Birthday Celebrations with at least 8 guests and we'll chuck in 6 bottles of wine and a birthday cake!!". You could then charge yuor client .xx for xxx birthday texts sent (work it on an hourly basis, number of texts etc)

To get birthdates, it is simple. Create a service review form which is given to customers after they're meal which gives them the chance to "win a free meal". You can ask for any information you want, including birthdates and 99% of people will happily fill it in. Your client then just keeps a spreadsheet and fills it in for each card, name, bday and phone number. If you create a template, you can use the same one for all businesses, just addd their logo/business name each time.

3) The material and printing costs for the table cards, beer mats, card holders etc.. for each individual business in order to build their own list. If not, how do you go about getting them to build their own list?

Yep... I pay for this too.(during the trial period) I know it sounds crazy but when you do the math it is a no brainer.

Hey Mobuzz, can you recommend a source for printing the table tents, flyers, etc?

3) The material and printing costs for the table cards, beer mats, card holders etc.. for each individual business in order to build their own list. If not, how do you go about getting them to build their own list?

Yep... I pay for this too.(during the trial period) I know it sounds crazy but when you do the math it is a no brainer.

Hey Mobuzz, can you recommend a source for printing the table tents, flyers, etc?

3) The material and printing costs for the table cards, beer mats, card holders etc.. for each individual business in order to build their own list. If not, how do you go about getting them to build their own list?

Yep... I pay for this too.(during the trial period) I know it sounds crazy but when you do the math it is a no brainer.

Hey Mobuzz, can you recommend a source for printing the table tents, flyers, etc?

yea this is a good post. We are getting bombarded with emails promoting the latest local mobile marketing course. They are good but the one thing they leave out is the selling part. If you don't like to sell or talk to businesses then you're gonna fail miserably. If you can offer a trial period to client to show them that having an app is beneficial and that it will bring them more business then they will jump on board.

I have learned more from this thread on SMS marketing than I have from all of the WSO I have purchased. I have the information now I can see myself putting it to work thanks to the information presented here without a cost.

Thanks to all of the Warriors that have given their experience freely.

I belabored my own sub-topic of Rural Tourist Towns long enough. And as Benjamin sagely said, "get out there, start selling and not come back to this forum until (you are) helping businesses generate new customers and making some money!!" So tallyho and off I shall go. BUT I did promise a Pt 2 of my treatise on 'You Know What' subject, which follows below.

This was DigiMan reporting from the Web trenches deep inside the Ozark Mountains...and wishing all 'Happy Online Hunting!'

Marketing Insights: The Last Great Local Niche -- Pt. 2

As the title of a Jimmy Buffet album said, "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes". That is the best advice that any marketer can remember when approaching a new market outside his/ her mainstream, especially if rural Tourist Towns are the target.

America is not a culturally homogenous country. It is a nation of many cultures and subcultures.

Two years ago I lost the keys to my front door. I never replaced them. When I leave on trips, the front door is left unlocked. When I return, nothing is ever gone or disturbed. Could I do that in Los Angeles or San Francisco? That's one example of cultural difference.

When you seek to market your wares to a culture different from your familiar one (such as a Rural Tourist Town -- aka 'small town' culture), you will immensely improve your chances of success if you understand their mindset and respect their values.

Trust is often the top consideration when a 'small town' local business decides whether or not to do business with you. If you can inspire their trust, making them feel you will do right by them, you'll usually get their account over the Fast-Talking Power-Hype Hustler pitching a better price and a few extra perks for immediately Acting Now.

When you first walk into a small town, always remember that you are an OUTSIDER. Local folks are generally polite and courteous to everybody...not just because you might be a tourist who may spend bucks in their establishment but also because that's the Small Town Golden Rule for treating other people. BUT don't let outward appearances of common courtesy fool you into thinking you got an open door. Again, ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU ARE THE OUTSIDER, and that means you aren't really trusted (until you do break the ice). Make no initial assumptions based on first appearances.

Small Town folks generally prefer to take people at their word. But too often 'outsiders' have mistaken a trusting disposition for gullibility. So, propositions from outsiders are often viewed with a high degree of skepticism. ALSO, remember there is a 'history', even if it has degenerated into a 'rural legend or myth', of slick city salesmen viewing country folks as bumpkins and thus easy marks...hence there exists an inherent suspicion toward the motives of new outsiders.

Too much razzle-dazzle hype, such as what's found on more than a few WSO squeeze pages, would probably backfire. Be real and speak plainly when explaining why your deal serves their needs better than anything else....because that inspires their trust more so than proclaiming 'You must ACT NOW to get my early-bird discount...because this dime sale's price is skyrocketing rea-a-lly fast!' TRUST ME, that kind of hype won't cut a fat hawg with country folk!

Small towns are the original social media.For example, in my town, the president of the Garden Club owns the best bed & breakfast. She is a chief 'influencer'. So, if her new mobile site produced more customer calls, she would crow about it to her fellow business owners in the Garden Club. Then her followers and rivals would want to emulate her mobile success. OR if the Pastor of the most popular church got a shiny new mobile site that impressed him, his congregation would hear about it too (and you can't go wrong by getting a 'thank you' printed in the church bulletin). Word of mouth spreads real fast in small towns. Win over a couple top local influencers and--Bingo!--your online & mobile services become an easier sell.

There is a downside to the Small Town Social Media Effect. Offend only one local business owner or local influencer...and your boat is forever sunk. Again, news spreads like wildfire (as well as gets exaggerated along the grape vine). Also, small town memories last very long.

The local chamber of commerce, tourist commissions, and local business associations are highly important institutions in rural tourist towns. They present an excellent way to get introductions to local business owners--especially by way of 'educational' seminars.

If I wanted to hold a seminar on The Joys of MobiSites, I'd call the Chamber and the Downtown Business Association...and after those two calls, I wouldn't have to lift a finger to get a room full of local business owners (that is, of course, if the Chamber and Association were persuaded that I had something worthy to 'teach').

Small towns are hungry for good live presentations. Seminars might be fairly commonplace in big cities. But professional seminars are an infrequent event in a small town. So, it is easy for a good show to pack a room.

While Warriors might be skeptical about a particular WSO, they are already pre-sold on the wonderful benefits of technology. Whereas rural Midwestern small businesses are NOT entirely convinced that online technology will do much to serve them.

Many view technology as a necessary evil. Why would anybody deliberately live in the country? To enjoy a simpler and slower pace of life! THUS technology is anathema to their way of life.

Marketing to rural businesses is all about convincing them that a mobile site (or service) is an essential business tool that will grow their bottom line. They won't buy a mobile site, per se, but they will buy a profitable TOOL.

Free trial periods are an excellent sales tactic. Small Town people can be a tough sell...because until a localreputation is established, a new Outsider really needs to show them some results before they write a check. (In the alternative, impress a local influencer or 'wow' the local business owners with a great seminar.)

Do NOT overprice your services. Just because rural places are outside the mainstream doesn't mean you can get away with charging a 'country bumpkin' premium. Rural Midwestern small businesses might be somewhat technologically 'unsophisticated'...but they can do a Google search and find out what online prices are for similar services.

Don't misconstrue 'frugality' for 'tightfistedness'.Most Rural Tourist Towns have a truncated business year amounting to the length of their 'tourist season'. What local businesses make during the tourist season, that money must carry them through the economically dead months of the off-season. So, if a local tourist business doesn't immediately jump all over your wonderful great offer, it doesn't mean they aren't interested...it just means they might be counting their dollars and contemplating whether your offer is worth parting with some of their off-season nest egg.

THE TIMING OF YOUR OFFER IS VERY CRITICAL. If you approach a local business owner during the off-season or at the beginning of tourist season, your chances of making a sale are usually poor...because they are feeling poor during their yearly financial down time. The middle of the tourist is the prime prospecting time...after they built up some new cash flow.

IN CONCLUSION...

Small Tourism Towns are the shale oil of Internet Marketing. There is a huge reservoir of untapped wealth out there in the countryside....but unlike West Texas sweet crude, it ain't easy to extract shale oil. It takes more work upfront. Not all mainstream methods may work. Some adaption of standard techniques is probably necessary. A different approach to 'drilling' must be taken. BUT when those oil pockets are tapped, an extensive field of gushers is the reward.

Good luck to all...and adios until my own online oil field is built,F. Preston Mitchell (aka DigiMan)Ozark Promo Works

One of my clients provides the local motels & hotels with 'slip jackets' in which room key cards are inserted. Of course, my client's ad is printed on those slip jackets. That method makes your idea practical....that is, if your local hotels & motels aren't already locked in that arrangement with somebody else....which is probably the case.

I've gotten some great ideas and feedback from this thread, which has prompted me to ask what the general opinion is about a mobile app and WSO called Goxbee. I am building my mobile marketing business and have been following the thread about Goxbee, but I am somewhat skeptical and wonder how others feel. I would appreciate any insight from anyone who has posted or been following this thread and/or the Goxbee thread.

...ask what the general opinion is about a mobile app and WSO called Goxbee... I would appreciate any insight from anyone who has posted or been following this thread and/or the Goxbee thread.

I have not built my first mobisite yet...but I have done exhaustive research on all major areas of mobi marketing...and I can report what the best mobi gurus might tell you.

One of the great debates in Mobi Mkting is:

MobiSite vs APP -- Which is Best?

The general consensus is that a MobiSite backed with a SMS Mkting campaign is your best bet for now. But sometime in the future, Apps might dominate. I concur with their rationale for that assessment.

A properly done MobiSite can be viewed by most types of mobile devices whereas Apps only work on specific mobile devices. An Android app won't work on an iPhone. Thus, you will need to make at least two versions of your app...one for iPhone and the other for Andy.

How do you deliver a Mobile App for installation on a consumer prospect's phone? That's the thorny part. There are various ways that vary in complexity and effectiveness...but I have not found any simple method...other than placing your app on an established app marketplace, which entails fees (and an often lengthy approval process to get your app accepted...or I am told by those who have done it).

Ideally, I would to host the app on my client's site for download....which is easy enough to accomplish...but it is a download WITHOUT automatic installation...and I think therein is the big catch....because it adds another step in the whole process for the consumer to use the app....download the app file, find the app file in their phone, and then initiate installation....how many people might say 'fuk it, this thing ain't worth the trouble (of performing those extra steps to install)". What do you think? I am torn on that point.

NOT EVERYBODY HAS A SMARTPHONE or iPHONE that does apps. I have clients who are still stuck with 'dumb' phones because their 2-year contract has not expired...but their dumb phones can still access the internet and view a mobile site.

Sorry for the delay. I haven't been on the forum for a while. Your feedback was very helpful and I appreciate the time you put into it. It gave me an overview, which will help me make a better decision whether or not to pursue the master license that Goxbee is offering.

One of my clients provides the local motels & hotels with 'slip jackets' in which room key cards are inserted. Of course, my client's ad is printed on those slip jackets. That method makes your idea practical....that is, if your local hotels & motels aren't already locked in that arrangement with somebody else....which is probably the case.

I'll go you one better here....print your information directly on the plastic keycard itself! Then they will pretty much have to use it, and most importantly the guest/tourist/visitor will have it on them at all times! I'm sure one could find pricing out there in bulk that would be affordable. This would also be a much stronger sales pitch to prospective offline customers you are selling the deal to.

Hey MoBuzz thank you for such a GREAT post! I just purchased WillR's landing page script. I was wondering if you would mind sharing the email you send to businesses. I am planning to use click2mail to personalize postcards with the owner and business name. I can send out 1-2 hundred a week and follow up with the businesses that are interested. I'm trying to come up with a quick message that will create enough curiosity to get the business owner to go to the page and watch the video.

I have a question after reading these commands. I know the SMS campaign can work on not only traditional cell phone but smart phone. However, the increasing population of using smart phone might change this situation. Some people switch to use "what's app", "LINE", "Viber" which are free from text which is charged. The question is how will you solve this potential question in the future. Further, do you have any strategy to imply your campaign in smart phone's market?

Because English is not my first language, it might lead to some misunderstanding for my question.
Sorry for that.

Just catching up on this thread so i haven't read all the posts. So have your new clients been impressed with the numbers of new customers provided to them via these lists?

Yes things are great, thanks for asking.

Originally Posted by worthapennyseo

Hello MoBuzz,

I would like to avail this system, is this for sale? And is this available outside the US?

Hi I sent you a PM

Originally Posted by jclaybrooks

Hey MoBuzz thank you for such a GREAT post! I just purchased WillR's landing page script. I was wondering if you would mind sharing the email you send to businesses. I am planning to use click2mail to personalize postcards with the owner and business name. I can send out 1-2 hundred a week and follow up with the businesses that are interested. I'm trying to come up with a quick message that will create enough curiosity to get the business owner to go to the page and watch the video.

" Hi my name is Jason. I am with MoBuzz Mobile Media. We are a marketing company located here in Napa. I put together a presentation video to show you how we can help bring in more customers for your business. Our program is highly effective and very affordable. Currently we are offering a 30 Day FREE Trial. Check out YOUR video below for more info."

Sending out 200 post cards a week can get expensive. Unless time is an issue I think walking into 200 businesses a week with a card and a flyer would be way more productive.

Originally Posted by KenChen

Hi MoBuzz,

Thanks for sharing your valuable experience. It makes me learn a lot.

You have gain some from SMS marketing. That is great to sound that.

I have a question after reading these commands. I know the SMS campaign can work on not only traditional cell phone but smart phone. However, the increasing population of using smart phone might change this situation. Some people switch to use "what's app", "LINE", "Viber" which are free from text which is charged. The question is how will you solve this potential question in the future. Further, do you have any strategy to imply your campaign in smart phone's market?

Because English is not my first language, it might lead to some misunderstanding for my question.
Sorry for that.

I am looking forward your reply and thank you in advance.

Have a good day
Cheers,

Ken

I am not sure I understand your question sorry.

"text messages" are only a small part of what we do. The real value to the
client is having a professional manage their SMS program for them. Not to mention the features such as text to win, text to vote, appointment reminders and of coarse trackable mobile coupons.

Sorry to make you confused.
In my country, people have to pay for every text (it is not unlimited.). so I have this question. If the text cost becomes an extra fee for your client or their consumer, what will be happen?

and QR codes are usually demonstrated on smart phone, right?

I love QR codes, cause I do not have to type long URL.
Further, it can cause people's curiosity to know what content it is.

Other questions, what is the limitation to launch this plan out of local market( you mainly operate it in local, right?) Since it is a electronic marketing, why not range it broader?

What is the degree of sanctification for your client in terms of coupons? Does it make them gain significant profits?

Is it possible to extent the trial time to 60? I think that the client can compare the difference between first 30 days and the last 30 days. Not just compare the outcome between before and after the plan.

Sorry again, I am a newbie in this area and I have poor English to express my thinking.

Quick questions. About the offer for the free mailing to the deals list for the businesses that are signing up. You mail them once to help them build the list as part of the deal? So if you are sending deals daily and after a month or so have enough to fill the first month, are you trying to find 30 new clients a month or are you giving them 1 blast to the deals list every month as part of the sign up then the list members get deals from the same 30 businesses every month?

Also, has anyone considered using SignalHQ for SMS? I was looking into them, they don't do white label but you'd be managing the clients yourself so should it matter? They charge by the subscriber not the message so I thought for a daily or a few times a week list it might save a ton of money every month in fees?

Quick questions. About the offer for the free mailing to the deals list for the businesses that are signing up. You mail them once to help them build the list as part of the deal? So if you are sending deals daily and after a month or so have enough to fill the first month, are you trying to find 30 new clients a month or are you giving them 1 blast to the deals list every month as part of the sign up then the list members get deals from the same 30 businesses every month?

I mail to my list for them once to show them that SMS works. After that they can continue to mail to the list for an extra fee. I use the list more as a tool to get them excited about SMS and building their own list.No they do not get deals from the same 30 businesses every month, although some clients do choose to keep mailing to the list so they will get a deal from that client every month.

I am planning to update this thread and show what the flyers that I use look like ect in a couple days when I have more time.

Also, has anyone considered using SignalHQ for SMS? I was looking into them, they don't do white label but you'd be managing the clients yourself so should it matter? They charge by the subscriber not the message so I thought for a daily or a few times a week list it might save a ton of money every month in fees?

Totally does, thank you. So you might not really have 30 days of deals booked consistently after the first 30 businesses that put up the fliers and signed up with you. As time goes on some of them might want to continue paying monthly not only for your services doing their own list, but also for 1 blast a month to try to grow their own list more.

Totally does, thank you. So you might not really have 30 days of deals booked consistently after the first 30 businesses that put up the fliers and signed up with you. As time goes on some of them might want to continue paying monthly not only for your services doing their own list, but also for 1 blast a month to try to grow their own list more.

Exactly. I actually prefer to keep it about 20-25 so that I have room to fit in a blast for a new prospect

Question.if you are using twilio to do this, couldn't you grab one phone number, and use it for everything, just adding keywords?

Like, use 555-555-1212

Text Napadeals to 555-555-1212 to get on the main deals list
Text joesPizza to get deals there
Text mountainCoffee to get deals there
Etc.....

Yes I think you could but personally I prefer short codes. Also they do not have all the feature that lime does. For someone that does not use resellers or need some of the other feature it could be a good fit.

Mobile marketing is the wave of the future, and i think its great that you took the time to explain to people how you made money on mobile traffic, thanks for this and i hope many affiliates gained knowledge off this

Mo Buzz, have you used any of the marketing videos on Lime - and use these instead of the non-targeted video in WillR's method? For example, you could use the one for restaurants, and then a week later target Gyms. More targeted may convert better.

I signed up for Lime's free trial. Great idea they have to let me poke around and create a few coupons and get a feel for the whole enchilada.

Mo Buzz, have you used any of the marketing videos on Lime - and use these instead of the non-targeted video in WillR's method? For example, you could use the one for restaurants, and then a week later target Gyms. More targeted may convert better.

I signed up for Lime's free trial. Great idea they have to let me poke around and create a few coupons and get a feel for the whole enchilada.

Cheers!

Stephen

Another great question. I will def be using limes videos (branded with our info of coarse) to target specific industries. I should be doing this already but our business is growing so fast that it has been put off. Hopefully be using the vids within a week or so.

Mo Buzz, this is indeed a great post started last month and still running.

Mobile Marketing, including all phases (QR code marketing/coupons, SMS Text Messaging Marketing, and Optimized Websites) is really a strong niche - especially in a local market.

What I have found and am doing, as well as starting the implementation of your strategy - is that most local business owners are a lot more receptive when you can show them the end product (a real text message demo, and show them a completed mobile website of their business) they are really impressed.

Mo Buzz, this is indeed a great post started last month and still running.

Mobile Marketing, including all phases (QR code marketing/coupons, SMS Text Messaging Marketing, and Optimized Websites) is really a strong niche - especially in a local market.

What I have found and am doing, as well as starting the implementation of your strategy - is that most local business owners are a lot more receptive when you can show them the end product (a real text message demo, and show them a completed mobile website of their business) they are really impressed.

Again, very good post and information. Thanks.

Glad you found the post helpful. Yes it is very powerful to walk in knowing that you can show them almost instant results as well as their mobile site already up and running. If you do this enough, and follow thru, then good things will come.

Originally Posted by the11project

Nice threads, I have recently hopped into the mobile marketing as a recent graduate that cannot find a job. Anyways, I was curious of how you engage the business & offer the service to begin with? Communications was my worst class I am just trying to beat this barrier. Do you hit them with statistics ? Or simply explain how it works? Thank you
,Mark

Thanks... I do not talk much about statistics. I give them the basic idea of what we do and offer them a free 30 day trial. Bottom line is they only care about results. If you can show them results for free it will close its self.

Originally Posted by Hendley

Good to hear of you success - telling your clients about the benefits instead of too many details about the product itself gave you an advantage.

True, and more important is to shut up and LISTEN to your clients. This was hard for me as I love to talk. As soon as I really followed the 80/20 rule my closing rate shot way up.

So we just finalized the fundraiser we will be doing with a local youth sports team. They have 120 football players and 50 cheerleaders that will be handing out 10,000 flyers to begin with. Plus promoting the program on their website, facebook ect.

This is a GREAT way to quickly build your own list AND help out our youth.

BUT you better put it together in your town soon, before we get there ; )

So we just finalized the fundraiser we will be doing with a local youth sports team. They have 120 football players and 50 cheerleaders that will be handing out 10,000 flyers to begin with. Plus promoting the program on their website, facebook ect.

This is a GREAT way to quickly build your own list AND help out our youth.

BUT you better put it together in your town soon, before we get there ; )

Hey MoBuzz!

Would you willing to share more how you are doing this, what the costs are, the ROI, and what kind of fundraisers work well with this method?

Is this something that would work for non-profits? - at least the non-profits who aren't afraid of a little work?

Thanks so much! You need to be awarded a "gold star" (whatever that is!) for the great assistance you are to all of us on this thread!

Would you willing to share more how you are doing this, what the costs are, the ROI, and what kind of fundraisers work well with this method?

Is this something that would work for non-profits? - at least the non-profits who aren't afraid of a little work?

Thanks so much! You need to be awarded a "gold star" (whatever that is!) for the great assistance you are to all of us on this thread!

Stephen

Hey thanks for the kind words : )

It is really hard to say what the cost are as it greatly depends on which SMS service you are using.

Yes the youth sports team is a non profit and it works great. They will continue to promote the program all year thru flyers ect. We give them 50% of the profit each month after cost to run the program.

The great thing is that you can repeat this in different towns. The REALLY great thing is that everyone wins.

I would just like to say how much I enjoyed reading Digiman's posts. They may be long, but for a grammatical pedant like me they were pure pleasure, lucid and cogent ideas expressed free of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes a rare find indeed!
Preston, I salute you!

Also may I encourage all the readers of this thread (and there are plenty of them) to stop reading and make a start on implementing the ideas expressed here.

2) If you have a different fundraiser in Napa, would you use the same domain, just ad a sub directory? Or would you build a more inclusive site that could handle many non-profits?

3) Kudos for building a mobile site for this too. One thing i am looking for is a "Click To Text" html code to add to a mobile site. A QR code will do this, but having a QR code show up on a mobile phone is pointless. ( I know, I did it, and then immediately realized - "dumb!"

4) One selling point is the merchants get to be "linked" with the non-profit, giving them definite additional brownie-points and future "ad ammo".

5) Of the 10,000 cards that you passed out - were they business card size (A LOT cheaper that post cards) and did they link straight to the text -Napa7 to 71442 - or did you send them to the website too.

I charge 300 a month but I also provide a few additional services as well at that price.

2) If you have a different fundraiser in Napa, would you use the same domain, just ad a sub directory? Or would you build a more inclusive site that could handle many non-profits?

I will only have one fundraiser in Napa. There will be other non profit programs in different cities and they will each have there own site.

3) Kudos for building a mobile site for this too. One thing i am looking for is a "Click To Text" html code to add to a mobile site. A QR code will do this, but having a QR code show up on a mobile phone is pointless. ( I know, I did it, and then immediately realized - "dumb!"
Click to text is just not where it needs to be yet, hopefully soon.

4) One selling point is the merchants get to be "linked" with the non-profit, giving them definite additional brownie-points and future "ad ammo".

5) Of the 10,000 cards that you passed out - were they business card size (A LOT cheaper that post cards) and did they link straight to the text -Napa7 to 71442 - or did you send them to the website too.

Thanks to everyone for contributing but especially MoBuzz for starting
the thread and generously sharing knowledge and experience.

My youngest daughter graduated from college not long ago with
a marketing degree and has figured out that "book learning" has
its place but is no substitute for the real world... lol

I, having no such degree, have earned a very nice living as a
"marketing guy" 0for as long as I can remember. So, my daughter
asked if I'd be willing to mentor her and maybe front her a little
capital to get started with something.

Mobile marketing is pretty much what we settled on and this thread
just cemented that decision for us. We set up a trial account with Lime
a couple days ago and have spent hours pouring over the features, watching
video and reading everything in the knowledge base.

That brings me to today...

We were having an "official business meeting" at my favorite pizza joint
and got to chatting with the owner. I've done many marketing campaigns
for him in the past so he always asks me what I'm cooking up when I stop
in for lunch.

I explained that I was helping my daughter get started in mobile marketing.
He kinda perked up and asked what the heck that was... lol. We live in a
pretty decent sized market area and nobody is doing this here.

So I explained it to him and told him we'd start the list building process
the first part of next week. He was curious about that so I explained how
it works and told him we'd probably look for 2 or 3 clients to get it started.

OK... this has gone long so here's the pay-off...

I told him what the rates would be once we were ready to mail to the completed
list and he says...instead of finding 2 or 3 offers to send to the new registrations
would we take $600 to mail his offer exclusively to each new registrant until the
list is complete?

My daughter... the rookie... kinda gulped and looked at both of us. We both
laughed and I said hell yes, as a favor to you! We left with a check and he
comped our lunch!

Thanks to everyone for contributing but especially MoBuzz for starting
the thread and generously sharing knowledge and experience.

My youngest daughter graduated from college not long ago with
a marketing degree and has figured out that "book learning" has
its place but is no substitute for the real world... lol

I, having no such degree, have earned a very nice living as a
"marketing guy" 0for as long as I can remember. So, my daughter
asked if I'd be willing to mentor her and maybe front her a little
capital to get started with something.

Mobile marketing is pretty much what we settled on and this thread
just cemented that decision for us. We set up a trial account with Lime
a couple days ago and have spent hours pouring over the features, watching
video and reading everything in the knowledge base.

That brings me to today...

We were having an "official business meeting" at my favorite pizza joint
and got to chatting with the owner. I've done many marketing campaigns
for him in the past so he always asks me what I'm cooking up when I stop
in for lunch.

I explained that I was helping my daughter get started in mobile marketing.
He kinda perked up and asked what the heck that was... lol. We live in a
pretty decent sized market area and nobody is doing this here.

So I explained it to him and told him we'd start the list building process
the first part of next week. He was curious about that so I explained how
it works and told him we'd probably look for 2 or 3 clients to get it started.

OK... this has gone long so here's the pay-off...

I told him what the rates would be once we were ready to mail to the completed
list and he says...instead of finding 2 or 3 offers to send to the new registrations
would we take $600 to mail his offer exclusively to each new registrant until the
list is complete?

My daughter... the rookie... kinda gulped and looked at both of us. We both
laughed and I said hell yes, as a favor to you! We left with a check and he
comped our lunch!

Thanks so much for sharing that. Exactly the reason I started this thread.

Do consider teaming up with a local youth sports team to help grow your master list. It is a great cause and everybody wins.

That's actually where our thinking began and then evolved to this.

I have 2 grandsons in youth soccer league. The league website says
they have 1785 kids in the league.

My original thought was to put together a diner's discount card with 10
bogo offers from 10 different popular restaurants and have the kids sell
them for 10 bucks with a 50/50 split.

I figured if each just sold 2... parents/grandparents... that would be $35,700
gross... so close to 18K for them and we'd eat the printing cost. I think the
whole thing could turn in less than 30 days.

The problem is I've never been a short term thinker so I like the long term
play of the residual of mobile marketing vs the quick score.

I have 2 grandsons in youth soccer league. The league website says
they have 1785 kids in the league.

My original thought was to put together a diner's discount card with 10
bogo offers from 10 different popular restaurants and have the kids sell
them for 10 bucks with a 50/50 split.

I figured if each just sold 2... parents/grandparents... that would be $35,700
gross... so close to 18K for them and we'd eat the printing cost. I think the
whole thing could turn in less than 30 days.

The problem is I've never been a short term thinker so I like the long term
play of the residual of mobile marketing vs the quick score.

Let me add that I am currently the head coach of a youth football team and on the board. I have been involved with youth sports for 15 years. My point is that EVERY youth team will love this program. Its to easy

Let me add that I am currently the head coach of a youth football team and on the board. I have been involved with youth sports for 15 years. My point is that EVERY youth team will love this program. Its to easy

I hear ya'

Our first thought was to do both then it occurred to me that we'd be
offering to put these guys on the discount card for free then turning
around and asking them to pay to access a smaller list. I'm not real
sure about that.

Our first thought was to do both then it occurred to me that we'd be
offering to put these guys on the discount card for free then turning
around and asking them to pay to access a smaller list. I'm not real
sure about that.

Ya that is true but there are more than one sports team in your town I bet

Honestly the residual is the way to go if it's one or the other. Not only is it more money in the long run, it also allows you to work with many businesses for the non profit opening up the door for mobile sites, google places ect ect

I have 2 grandsons in youth soccer league. The league website says
they have 1785 kids in the league.

My original thought was to put together a diner's discount card with 10
bogo offers from 10 different popular restaurants and have the kids sell
them for 10 bucks with a 50/50 split.

I figured if each just sold 2... parents/grandparents... that would be $35,700
gross... so close to 18K for them and we'd eat the printing cost. I think the
whole thing could turn in less than 30 days.

The problem is I've never been a short term thinker so I like the long term
play of the residual of mobile marketing vs the quick score.

Let me add that I am currently the head coach of a youth football team and on the board. I have been involved with youth sports for 15 years. My point is that EVERY youth team will love this program. Its to easy

I had an idea along these lines, but I am too busy to follow through with it, so I will pass it along here...

Along the lines of youth sports teams, the other place you might consider approaching is schools. I know my daughter's school is always complaining about not having enough money for new computers etc. (of course, they sock most of it to their sports teams.....)

But anyway, whether its for the school teams, or their computer dept, etc., you could do the same thing:

Get either a pizza type card OR (better) as you said, several different restaurants and/or stores to provide a 2 for 1 type deal on a card. If you go with variety, you *could* also ask the company to pay a fee if you really wanted to (advertising or set up fee).

Get the students to canvass door to door with the card and sell it for $5-10-20, and split the profits with the school.

I know around here, they've done the entertainment book in the past ($20), but honestly we never bought it. (And even worse, the public school did it literally 2 weeks after the high school did it, so I don't think the public school did very well). Thick books aren't the way to go, but a business card size would be easy because you can put it in your wallet.

HOWEVER... if you VARIED the offers, you could literally do 2 totally different cards, 1 for public school and 1 for high schools. (Hint: get offers that match each... i.e., public school, ensure there's at least 1 offer from a kids type store if possible, i.e., bogo for clothes... get stuff that appeals to high school kids or parents for the high school age).

One size doesn't fit all, so if you appeal that side of it, you could sell 2-3 different cards to the same people (i.e., if they have kids in both high school and public)... or on different sports teams.

Obviously that would depend on the size of your city, but it could work.

Sorry, a quick thought to that - you could also have a "text xxx to 12345" on each box to get the deal on their phones as part of the coupon, that way they don't even have to have the card with them...

Our first thought was to do both then it occurred to me that we'd be
offering to put these guys on the discount card for free then turning
around and asking them to pay to access a smaller list. I'm not real
sure about that.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
( sorry - I can't figure out how to get "multi quote" to work )
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm thinking that if the kids were to offer the bogo card, and then, whether the customer bought the card or not, they could end their conversation by handing out the "text napa" flyer (or a small card) saying that "this is another way you can get great deals and help us for free".

it would seem to me that eventually your "free" text list ( that you charge businesses to access ) would be larger that the number of people who "buy" the bogo card.

So I have a question for you Mobuzz (or anyone else that wants to chime in).

What would you suggest for a slightly bigger city, which would have definitely more than 30 businesses want to participate? Thinking of it from a user aspect...

(hashing this out here)

Say a city that has nearly 100K people - would you break the city into like 4 quadrants, set up an sms for each "area", and get people to text the code closest to their house?

However, if a person works across the city from their home, they would have to in essence join both lists in case they wanted something nearby either...

or would you simply have one text list for the city, and have businesses kind of "battle" (aka: reserve one specific day) for the spot for the month?

I'd like to add this to a concept I'm doing, but for bigger areas I'm not sure how this would work best.

Thoughts?

The city I live in has about 80-100 000 people in it. People do not really choose where they will eat and shop based on what side of town they are on. So what I am doing is building my list to 2500 to 5000 subscribers and then starting a new list. That way I can work with 30 business on each list.
If I lived in a area that was more spread out I might separate the two list by location.

For us it is not much of an issue, we plan on having one master list in as many towns as possible. Working with youth sports teams to help grow the list quickly. Napa will most likely be the only town that we have multiple list.

We will also be launching our mobile directory http://napasearch.mobi next week. Hopefully it takes off as quick as Napa Mobile Deals, but I expect it to be a little slower. Still bugs to be worked out.

The city I live in has about 80-100 000 people in it. People do not really choose where they will eat and shop based on what side of town they are on. So what I am doing is building my list to 2500 to 5000 subcribers and then starting a new list. That way I can work with 30 business on each list.
If I lived in a area that was more spread out I might separate the two list by location.

For us it is not much of an issue, we plan on having one master list in as many towns as possible. Working with youth sports teams to help grow the list quickly. Napa will most likely be the only town that we have multiple list.

We will also be launching our mobile directory Home next week. Hopefully it takes off as quick as Napa Mobile Deals, but I expect it to be a little slower. Still bugs to be worked out.

Good luck in your venture : )

Holy moly MoBuzz!!! That new directory looks FANTASTIC!! Are you using a WSO or a template or something to build it? Did you already sell the businesses on the directory before you put them in it? Man, no wonder you are knocking it out of the park. That is fantastic!! I'm marking this as THE best mobile thread on here - WOW!

Holy moly MoBuzz!!! That new directory looks FANTASTIC!! Are you using a WSO or a template or something to build it? Did you already sell the businesses on the directory before you put them in it? Man, no wonder you are knocking it out of the park. That is fantastic!! I'm marking this as THE best mobile thread on here - WOW!

Hey Daniel thanks so much for all the kind words.

I am not using a WSO or a template for the site. It was created using Limes website builder. The site is not perfect and will prob keep evolving over the next couple months. When perfected we will take it to the next town over.

No I did not sell ALL the businesses on the directory before I put them in. Some are businesses that I already deal with and I knew they would jump on it as tourist are very hard people to reach. Others were places that I wanted to target. I would say a little over half are paying, while the rest are on a free trial.

There are still some kinks to workout as the program is new but overall it has been going great.

We already have a major resort with 600 rooms committed to directing their guest to the site. As well we have agreements with most of the B&Bs

At some point we will start looking for select people to partner with to help set these programs up in their area.

The city I live in has about 80-100 000 people in it. People do not really choose where they will eat and shop based on what side of town they are on. So what I am doing is building my list to 2500 to 5000 subscribers and then starting a new list. That way I can work with 30 business on each list.
If I lived in a area that was more spread out I might separate the two list by location.

For us it is not much of an issue, we plan on having one master list in as many towns as possible. Working with youth sports teams to help grow the list quickly. Napa will most likely be the only town that we have multiple list.

We will also be launching our mobile directory Home next week. Hopefully it takes off as quick as Napa Mobile Deals, but I expect it to be a little slower. Still bugs to be worked out.

Good luck in your venture : )

MoBuzz, is the directory part of the deal or is this something you charge extra for?

We will also be launching our mobile directory http://napasearch.mobi next week. Hopefully it takes off as quick as Napa Mobile Deals, but I expect it to be a little slower. Still bugs to be worked out.

Good luck in your venture : )

Hi MoBuzz, your website m.napasearch is not online.. Do you know this?

So I have a question for you Mobuzz (or anyone else that wants to chime in).

What would you suggest for a slightly bigger city, which would have definitely more than 30 businesses want to participate? Thinking of it from a user aspect...

(hashing this out here)

Say a city that has nearly 100K people - would you break the city into like 4 quadrants, set up an sms for each "area", and get people to text the code closest to their house?

However, if a person works across the city from their home, they would have to in essence join both lists in case they wanted something nearby either...

or would you simply have one text list for the city, and have businesses kind of "battle" (aka: reserve one specific day) for the spot for the month?

I'd like to add this to a concept I'm doing, but for bigger areas I'm not sure how this would work best.

Thoughts?

Pretty much the same answer MoBuzz gave. The population of the
city I live in is about 150,000 - 160,000 with an ADI of about 350,000.

I'm just getting started but I plan to build multiple lists of limited number
and offer each advertiser the opportunity to "mail" each list once per month
in addition to building their own in house lists.

QUESTION FOR MoBuzz...

Do you find the Lime site builder adequate or should I seek other solutions?
Do I need something like the products offered by Will, Quentin or the other
gentleman whose name I don't recall at the moment? lol

Pretty much the same answer MoBuzz gave. The population of the
city I live in is about 150,000 - 160,000 with an ADI of about 350,000.

I'm just getting started but I plan to build multiple lists of limited number
and offer each advertiser the opportunity to "mail" each list once per month
in addition to building their own in house lists.

QUESTION FOR MoBuzz...

Do you find the Lime site builder adequate or should I seek other solutions?
Do I need something like the products offered by Will, Quentin or the other
gentleman whose name I don't recall at the moment? lol

Yes I love the Lime Builder. BUT I do own both Will and Quentin's programs as well. You can never have to many tools and for the price it was a no brainer for me.

In my business I do it a little different and do not give a free trial. Instead, I bill at the end of each month. So, if they start on May 1, I invoice on June 1. That way I pick up any overage text charges or any other charges for the month.

When they start, I give them a guarantee that on June 1 we can cancel with no charge to them if that is what they want to do.. Once they have the warm puppy dog for a month, it is very easy to keep it. I do limit the number of texts for that month. And we hit it hard with list building ideas.

I set up a Lime text to win campaign today for a client, a restaurant. All entries of course go on a new opt in list for him. The prize is a free $10 max meal and drink every day in June for the winner. His total cost could be $300 retail ( $100 cost), IF they ate there everyday, which they won't. And they will not eat alone much either. So we build the list while making him money.

Great ides in this thread , guys.

This gives the same effect as a free trial, but you still have a chance to collect that last month if they ever leave.

In my business I do it a little different and do not give a free trial. Instead, I bill at the end of each month. So, if they start on May 1, I invoice on June 1. That way I pick up any overage text charges or any other charges for the month.

When they start, I give them a guarantee that on June 1 we can cancel with no charge to them if that is what they want to do.. Once they have the warm puppy dog for a month, it is very easy to keep it. I do limit the number of texts for that month. And we hit it hard with list building ideas.

I set up a Lime text to win campaign today for a client, a restaurant. All entries of course go on a new opt in list for him. The prize is a free $10 max meal and drink every day in June for the winner. His total cost could be $300 retail ( $100 cost), IF they ate there everyday, which they won't. And they will not eat alone much either. So we build the list while making him money.

Great ides in this thread , guys.

This gives the same effect as a free trial, but you still have a chance to collect that last month if they ever leave.

The free trial is an easier close than, you can cancel at the end but we will bill your card if you don't. Seems like you would get more in your sales funnel that way.

Really incredible Napa Search site, Mo Buzz! Have you built all the mobile sites using Lime? How fast can you build one in Lime. I use Kevin Koops system, and my first took me about 2 days! (a restaurant with lots of menu items) But with templates that I have already done, I think I could crank one out in about 2 hours. Then faster. (all HTML and CSS)

My bigger concern is about mobile load times, the bigger the site gets. Is the Home page also done with Lime? Do all these mobile sites use Napa Search as their redirect from their regular site?

I just have to say I love mobile marketing. It really allows you the freedom to be very creative.

My wife who has zero experience in marketing has decided to join the party. She over heard me talking about offering mobile invitations and loved the idea. One of her friends happens to be getting married soon so she pitched the idea to her, and she loved it as well. In fact we just finished her mobile invitations.

The best part is that the bride told her wedding planner about the invitations and she wants to offer them to her future brides.

Who knows where it will lead but the wife seems to think she can sell these all day long lol. Where we live there are Quinceanera's everyday. I can not imagine a 15 year old girl passing on a mobile invitation with her pic on it : )

I just have to say I love mobile marketing. It really allows you the freedom to be very creative.

My wife who has zero experience in marketing has decided to join the party. She over heard me talking about offering mobile invitations and loved the idea. One of her friends happens to be getting married soon so she pitched the idea to her, and she loved it as well. In fact we just finished her mobile invitations.

The best part is that the bride told her wedding planner about the invitations and she wants to offer them to her future brides.

Who knows where it will lead but the wife seems to think she can sell these all day long lol. Where we live there are Quinceanera's everyday. I can not imagine a 15 year old girl passing on a mobile invitation with her pic on it : )

That sounds very creative but I'm not sure what a mobile
invitation looks like. Is it a text that links to a personalized
website?

That sounds very creative but I'm not sure what a mobile
invitation looks like. Is it a text that links to a personalized
website?

Yes basically that is the idea. It is a link we will send out that leads to a mobile site. The site has a link to the registry, RSVP, photos of the couple ect...

Someone made a thread about doing this awhile back (Quentin I believe) and I was talking about it with someone when my wife overheard and decided to offer it to a friend of hers who just started planning her wedding.

One can do so much with mobile marketing. Dynamic features of mobile marketing that can help you make a lot of money include $1.00 advertising with relevant messages to spark up a dull business day or for information exchange.